PHIL OSOPHICAL 

RETROSPECT 



ON THE 



GENERAL out-lines of CREATION and 
PROVIDENCE. 

WHERE IN IS CONSIDERED 

THE ORIGIN OF MATTER, AND WORKS OF 



THE IMMUTABLE AND STSTEMATIC DISPOSITIONS OF 

DIVINE PROVIDENCE : 

IN CONSEQUENCE WHEREOF, 
THE WORLD WAS AT SOME ANCIENT EPOCH, 



SUBSEQUENT TO WHICH, THE CREATION OF ALL TER+ 
RE STRIA L ANIMALS TOOK PLACE. 

COMPRISING ALSO, A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ORIGIN 
OF NATIONS AND OF THE GENERAL CHAR"* 
ACTERISTICS OF THE SEVERAL 
VARIETIES OF 



CREATION; 



AND ALSO 



DESTROYED BY AN 



EXUNDATION OF THE SEA. 




VVILKESBARRE, (PiSj^ 




PRINTED BY CHARLES MINER. 

1806. 



3 L 3,2,5 
♦377 



A RETROSPECT 



ON THE 

WORKS OF CREATION AND PROVIDENCE. 

CHAPTER I. 

Of the Originality cf Matter. 

UNDER this we shall attempt to shew that 
matter, as well as spirit^ had an original existence : — 
but previous to the argument, it may be expedient to 
remove, if possible, from the minds of a large portion 
of my readers, the prejudices resulting from educa.- 
tion, and an adverse sentiment. 

That all things were created out of nothing, is a 
sentiment strongly revited on the minds of Christians 
in general, by education. And, being taught that it is 
a doctrine of divine revelation, they yield to it an im- 
plicit faith. But they may assure themselves, that 
this opinion is founded in mistake ; and is a position 
that cannot be substantiated by the bible. Those who 
have embraced it, have been mis-led by a vain philos- 
ophy. 

This tenet, if it has any foundation in sacred writ, 
is grounded on the v-ery first words of the book, and 
on nothing else. In the beginning God created the 
heavens and the earth. To this we agree. But this 
has no relation to the subject. The question is>— - 
a Did he create them out of nothing or of pre-e:-dstcnt 
matter r" 

To create and to make, are equivalent terms : — it is 
to modify, form or frame ; as also to cause, or pro- 
cure. But our ancient theolo^ists have, to make it 



4 



tally with their own contracted system of philosophy, 
fixed an arbitrary sense to the word creation, when 
applied to the works of God. And, to substantiate a 
speculative opinion of their own, do, occasionally 
(contrary to the proper sense of the word) force it to 
signify the forming of something out of nothing.—* 
Yet cn other occasions they still suffer it to retain its 
proper signification : as for instance, when it is said, 
God created man out of the dust of the ground ; and 
woman of one of his ribs ; the text is so explicit as 
not to admit of a similar perversion. Here then they 
allow the word create, to retain its true meaning ; and 
apply it merely to the modification of pre-existent 
matter. Hence we may observe, the same philoso- 
phers have used the word in different senses, and ac- 
commodated the meaning to their own purposes. 

The sentiment then, that all things were created out 
of nothing, is but an artifice of ancient schoolmen, con- 
ceived probably in the dark ages, to propagate their 
own ideas am on g an unlettered populace. A philoso- 
phy which originated with them, and has gained credit 
in the world, more by the sanctity of their character, 
than by the efforts of reason ; and has been perpetuated 
to the present day without a general and frank exami- 
nation. By this species of philosophy the christian 
world has been already too long held in the chains of ; 
ignorance and superstition, from which it is* high 
lime it were rescued. 

This system was founded on a contracted scale. — 
To a person ignorant of the system of the universe^ it 
doubtless might appear plausible, but there is nQthing 
rational, scriptural, or scientific in it. It is to be pre- 
sumed, that had the ideas of the authors and abettors 
of it, been enlarged with modern science, and a com- 
petent knowledge of nature, they would have acqui- 
esced in our position, and have admitted that matter had 
an original existence : and also, that our world (as 
well as all others) was created of pre-existent matter, 
at an epoch of the very highest antiquity. 



5 



Some very judicious men cannot ascribe to the earth 
an aera so remote, because no vestiges of so great an- 
tiquity remain to prove it. This we shall endeavour to 
illustrate in its proper place, by shewing, that it has in 
the course of events been destroyed, once at least, by 
an inundation of the sea, and possibly many other times, 
during the period of its existence, by the like, or some 
other means : subsequent to which animated nature 
had to commence a new career. 

To ascribe to God the creation of all things out of 
nothing is supererogatory. It is doing that which he 
has never required : and believing that as divine rev- 
elation which he has never taught, either to philoso- 
phers or prophets, ancient or modern. If by our as- 
criptions we aim at his glory, we are to ascribe to him 
only what is true, for that alone is sufficient to cover 
him with glory ; but no glory can accrue to him from 
false impressions on the minds of his creatures. 

It can by no means derogate from his glory to admit, 
that as well material as spiritual substances had an 
original existence, and were co-eternal with himself ; 
while we at the same time respect him as the Supreme 
intelligence, and great soul of the universe — while we 
attribute to matter no power of intelligence or self- 
animation — but consider God as the universal spirit — 
self-moved — pervading all nature — disposing it with 
all the accuracy of consummate wisdom — modifying of 
it, into worlds, and systems of worlds — into angels and 
men, and all other inhabitants of those worlds— placing 
every atom in its proper and relative position — commu- 
nicating light and heat, motion and life, to all, and 
establishing such physical laws through the whole, as 
shall most conduce to the glory of the creator and hap- 
piness of the creature. 

All mankind, whether religionists or philosophers, 
who believe in the existence of a God ; are clearly of 
opinion, that his existence must have been original and 
eternal, because they cannot account for it on any other 
principle ; and this is undoubtedly a good ground of be- 
A 2 



6 



lief: and by a parity of reason, we are to believe like- 
wise, that matter had an original and eternal existence. 
We can no more account for the origin of the one, than 
of the other. We can form no conception of the be- 
ginning of either the one or the other ; or of the cause 
or manner of their induction into existence, but from 
necessity^ which is but another name for original self- 
existence ; and therefore feel ourselves impelled to a 
conclusion that neither of them did ever begin to be. 

The four principal, and perhaps, only elements of 
nature, namely, fire, air, earth and water, (which are 
the simplest bodies that can be, neither made of one 
another, nor of any thing else) appear to have been ori- 
ginal substances, of which, by an infinite variety of 
modifications and proportions, intermixed and com- 
pounded with infinite intelligence, all material substan- 
ces are made and produced. 

Had nothing ever have been, nothing must still have 
been. Something cannot be reduced to nothing ; 
whence the conclusion results, that something never 
came from nothing. What is nothing but an universal 
blank in nature ? Nothing else surely, nor even that : 
tot Where nothing is, there can be no nature : for na- 
ture is something. If we advocate the doctrine, that 
dil things were created out of nothing, all our ratio- 
cination will amount to nothing. 

Adverse philosophies have obtained. Between the 
spiritualists and materialists, there is a dashing. The 
first admits of no' original matter ; the last of no ori- 
ginal spirit, distinct from matter. The first have as- 
ciibed to God, the creation of all things out of noth- 
ing ; this appears to be impossible ; for if spirit can 
exist without a first cause, why not matter ? It ap- 
pears necessary thai: both should exist of necessity. 
The latter have as far as in them lay reasoned God out 
of" the universe. They say there is no God : but mat- 
ter has in itself all the springs and sources of motion 
and animation. This we likewise deem impossible. 
A Gox> tnere must be, for that which possesses no in- 



nate intelligence cannot produce intelligent beings, but 
signs of intelligence in the work, prove intelligence in 
the workman. The whole economy of nature ; the 
wisdom and contrivance displayed in the machinery of 
the universe ; the organization of vegetables and ani- 
fnals ; the gradations and connexions ; tJ^e mutual de- 
pendencies and subserviences of the whole, all unite 
to impress the idea of a God. Matter we know there 
is, and with great reason ascribe to it originality ; but 
no intelligence ; the works of creation and providence 
cannot be attributable to it. Tjt will be happy for us, if 
from a collision of errors, we can strike out a spark of 
truth. These systems are both of them, in and of 
themselves deficient, and unable to stand alone : for 
matter without intelligence could never produce those 
signs of intelligence ; and spirit without matter could 
have nothing to work upon. The more substantial 
parts of the opposite extremes, are however, so nice- 
ly interwoven, that, without destroying both, we can 
never dissever them even in thought. It is only by 
ijniting the essential parts of both systems that truth is 
developed. Reason dictates that God and matter, are 
co-eternal and co-essential, though essentially differ- 
ent in their properties and energies : That the eter- 
nal spirit, by communicating an adequate degree of 
motion, and combination, to the various particles of 
the eternal matter, and ordaining all their operations, 
has displayed infinite wisdom, and energy in the fabric 
of the universe and all the infinite variety of its con- 
tents. 

We have already mentioned, that " In the beginning 
God created the heavens and the earth." The question 
now occurs, when was. this beginning ? It must have 
uccn at an epoch distant as eternity — incalculably re- 
mote. For, if it be admitted by all, that the Deity 
existed from eternity, it must be presumed, that he, 
from eternity employed himself in some glorious work. 
It certainly cannot, on any rational grounds be conten- 
ded ? that he never commenced the work of creation,. 



s 



until about six thousand years ago. For, were we to 
conceive that he created all things out of nothing, shall 
we then conceive, that he sat brooding over that noth- 
ing from the first stage of his existence till that late 
period ? Or, if on the other hand, we were to sup- 
pose all things created of pre-existent matter, shall we 
then conceive, he stood an idle spectator of the chaos 
through that immense lapse of time ? Either of these 
suppositions would be absurd in the highest degree, 
for they both carry their own refutation along with 
them : yet, absurd as they are, the one or the other 
must be admitted, unless we admit that he created the 
heavens and the earth at a period of the highest an- 
tiquity, even infinite ages before the last six thousand 
years commenced. Are we to believe, that the un- 
bounded expanse was void of matter till about six 
thousand years ago, and the whole infinity of w©rlds 
produced at that recent epoch ? And, that the great 
soul of nature, expended infinite millions of ages in 
contriving a work of six days ? Or, in a state of total 
inactivity ? By no means. We are to consider the 
operations of the divine mind as instantaneous, and all 
his energies prompt. That no lapse of time can hap- 
pen between the design and execution of his purposes, 
other than what his wisdom renders necessary for the 
modification and maturation of things, established in 
the progressive laws of nature. And, had matter been 
created out of nothing, about six thousand years ago, 
there could have been nothing previous to that aera to 
modify or mature, so that we can see nothing prior to 
that epoch to employ the divine mind upon, we must 
therefore admit matter to have been eternal, and crea- 
tion the work of the very highest antiquity. 

A general view of nature — a serious contemplation 
of the universe — the inconceivable immensity of space 
— the astonishing magnitudes, numbers and distances 
if worlds known to occupy a portion of that space ; and 
he infinite profusion oi worlds, and systems of worlds? 
vonceived by rational conjecture to exist beyond the 



9 



most diligent researches of human art, all conspire to 
prove the originality of matter ; and, abstract from all 
other considerations, prove to the rational mind, that 
all things were not created out of nothing*"; nor at the 
comparitively recent period, before mentioned. 

CHAPTER It 

The work of Creation %vas progressive. 

THAT the work of creation was not the momenta- 
neous production of Omnipotence, is discoverable 
from the work itself, which abounds with the most 
unequivocal evidences of a slow progression. Whether 
we admit the component parts of the earth to have had 
an original existence or not , we cannot resist the im- 
pressive evidences of its having continued a series of 
years, perhaps of ages in a chaotic state. 

Several eminent philosophers having suggested the 
same position, we shall have the less occasion to dwell 
upon it. Among these we shall particularize only Moses 
and Buffon. How different soever, the ideas of these 
great men might have been in many respects, in this 
there is a remarkable co-incidence. Moses saith, " And 
the earth was without form, and void, and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep, &x." — M. lkiffon has, 
in his theory of the earth, supported, with great ability 
the same hypothesis. And various natural phenomena 
discovered in the component parts of the earth, appear 
to be altogether inexplicable without admitting it. 

We shall at present only call up to view, the shells, 
the bones and the teeth of animals, as they are found 
incorporated with rocks, stones and flints ; especially 
with those, of which, the magnitude, induration, and 
elevation, have been known from the earliest ages to 
have remainded the same, and whose situations are 
such as to render it apparently impossible, that either 



40 



this extraneous matter, or any matter of a petrifying 
quality should have reached 'them, since the earth be- 
came habitable. These extraneous substances being 
the remains of animals, it is hence certain that ani- 
mals existed previous to the induration of those rocks, 
for they must have been incorporated with them while 
they were in a state of fusion. And, when we consid- 
er that these rocks and flints, had undoubtedly acquir- 
ed their firm cohesion before the earth became habit- 
able, we are thence led to conclude, that the bones 
and teeth as well as shells, are the remains of water 
animals, which must have existed before the formation 
of land animals. Whence we are impressed with the 
idea, that a very considerable time must have elapsed* 
while these animals were generating and progresing 
to maturity. During which interval (whatever the 
length of it might be) the work of creation was still in 
a state of progression ; in which state it must have con- 
tinued till the rocks and stones became hard, and the 
confused elements were so digested, as to render the 
growth of vegetables practicable, and the existence of 
terrestrial animals, possible. 

To evince this we shall now detail a few facts in 
point, which phenomena we know not how to account 
for on any other hypothesis. 

A Testaceous Rock. — There is not perhaps a more 
astonishing instance of petrifaction in the western 
world, than is to be seen about half a mile from the 
court-house in Schoharrie county, near the Mohawk 
river in the State of New-York. And, what is almost 
as astonishing is, it has never been noticed by any ge- 
ographer or naturalist, previous to the year 1803. It 
is a hill whose size almost entitles it to the appellation 
of a mountain which may be pronounced a mere mass 
of petrified shells. The person who gave the history 
of it says " I went to the top of the hill, which is 
some thousand feet higher'than the ground where the 
court house stands, and examined the Eock as I went 
up, and then along on the top of the ridge for half a 



ii 



mile. The rock is generally covered with a thin soil, 
but lies bare at different intervals not far distant from 
each other, in its whole extent. In most places it pro- 
jects from the ground ten or twelve feet. Every inch' 
of the rock exhibits petrified shells in their perfect 
form. In one place I broke off a piece of the rock* 
in a deep fissure, ten feet from the surface of the rock, 
and found it to be of the same composition. Wher- 
ever the rock is exposed to the sun it resembles 
brimstone ; where it is hid from the sun, it is dark, 
coarse and rough : — It seems to be romposed wholly 
of river shells. I could discover no oyster shells." 

This goes to prove creation « progressive. Not six 
days, , nor six years, could have been competent to the 4 
growth of such an enormous mass of clams. The rock 
it is to be presumed, received its present form prior to 
the earth's becoming habitable. That shell fish exis- 
ted in abundance before the rock was made, there can 
be no shadow of a doubt ; for no man can entertain so 
absurd an idea, as to suppose a body of old clam-shells 
created put of nothing, on purpose to make this huge 
rock. . 

The Rock of Gibraltar .—In blowing up certain parts 
of this vast rock for the purpose of erecting batteries 
on its declivity, many pieces of animal bones and teeth - 
have been found incorporated with the solid rock. 

This is no new formed rock; it was, by the an- 
cients denominated one of the pillars of Hercules ; and < 
is undoubtedly as old as any rock in the world : we are 
at least to believe it received its form and solidity be- 
fore the present race of men and animals commenced 
existence. It is certain however, that before its in- 
duration, animated nature existed ; but these could 
not have been land-animals. Creation was then pro- 
gressive. 

Bhcts. — M. de St. Pierre, asserts that he has pick- 
ed up on the flinty hills of Lower Normandy, oyster- 
shells perfectly complete, amalgamated with black 
flints, which they call Bisets ; also, that the shelving 



m 



sea-coast in the district ofCaux is formed of alternate 
strata of marie and bisets ; so that as they are cut per- 
pendicularly, you would call it a great wall, of which 
the layers had been regulated by an architect ; and 
with so much the greater appearance of probability, that 
the people of the country build their houses of the 
self same materials, disposed in the self same order. 
These banks of marie are from one to two feet broad, 
and the rows of flints which separate them, are three 
or four inches thick : the thickest are undermost, and 
the thinest a-top. Now these banks of marles and 
flints are filled with shells, which would have been in 
perfect preservation, had not the pressure of that 
enormous mass broken in pieces the largest of them. 
Wherever the marles and flints are formed, shells are 
likewise found in great quantities. So that as marie 
has been evidently formed of the wreck, it appeared 
to him that the flints had been composed of the very 
substance of the fishes therein enclosed. 

Let us now enquire, when were the bisets formed, 
was it at the epechaof creation or some subsequent pe- 
riod ? At the epoch of creation no doubt : and at an 
early period, before the earth had become habitable, 
animated nature therefore existed in the waters before 
it existed on the land, which marks a progressive 
creation. 

Oyster shells are likewise found in great abundance, 
incorporated with ridges of calcareous rocks in Egypt ; 
and one of the largest pyramids is built entirely of 
stones of that description, Stones of a similar com- 
position, are found on the elevated ridges near the 
Susquehanna river, and in almost every other region of 
the earth. Besides, stones compounded of very dif- 
ferent materials are every where to be met with : such 
as small hard stones and spar embodied in those of a 
looser texture. In North-Carolina, a species of rock 
is found in several places of which lime is made, which 
is obviously a concretion of marine shells. 

The well known laws established in the physical 



IS 



system for the secretion, maturation and consolidation 
of the component part s of a world, to render it prima- 
rily fit for vegetation, and the time requsite to render 
vegetation competent to the support of animal life, all 
combine to evince a necessary progress of considera- 
ble duration. 

The immensity of worlds that compose the uni- 
verse : and the astonishing length of periods required 
by some of them to complete one revolution, afford 
strong arguments in favor of the originality of matter, 
and the eternity of its duration, for it is undoubtedly 
a sound maxim, — That, that which begins in time, 
shall end in time ; but that which had no beginning, 
shall have no end. 

The solar eclipse w'e witnessed in J\me 16, 1806, 
requires -a period of 12,492 years, to bring the sun, 
moon, and earth to reassume the same phases or rela- 
tive position. These long periods seem adapted to*» 
machine of infinite duration. 

CHAPTER III. 

A Descant on Animal Creation. 

THE order and arrangement in which this work 
was executed, having been long since pointed out by 
Moses in a manner truly rational and philosophical we 
shall pursue that order : but as the account Which he 
exhibited is rather laconic, we shall undertake an ex- 
position of it, according to our own conceptions, 
which, though such expositions may more properly 
belong to men of another class, yet I have the vanity 
to believe, that I can do the text justice without put- 
ting it to the one half of the distortion, to which expo- 
sitors and theologists of every denomination find be* 
casion to put many a text, in order to substantiate a 
correct system of their own. 

B 



14 



The process, indeed, by which creation was per* 
formed, is known only to him who executed the work. 
The ancient Egyptians, who may emphatically be 
called the fathers of science, because their notions 
spread in the early ages of the world, over all the east, 
and thence to almost every other region, considered 
the formation of animals as merely fortuitous. They 
supposed, and not injudiciously, that the crocodile, 
and other amphibious animals of the Nile, had been 
produced from the mud of that river. Moses in his 
history of animal creation, expressed a similar idea, 
different only in this, that what they ascribed to acci- 
dent or mere nature, he ascribed to the God of nature. 
He says, And God said let the earth bring forth the 
living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things 
and beasts of the e&rth, after his kind. 

The probability is, that he received the idea from 
his Egyptian preceptor^, as it co-ineides with theirs, 
and appears perfectly consistent with sound philoso- 
phy. And what remains now is, to form a rational, 
conjecture, on the process or manner in which the 
work was executed. With deference then, I shall say 
first, negatively, that Moses could not mean that the 
earth generally and spontaneously brought forth living- 
creatures, as it does plants which spring from the com- 
mon soil and are attached to it ; nor that it brought 
them forth as it does vapours and exhalations, which 
form the ignis fatuus, and other meteors ; for every 
appearance in nature, reprobates the idea. But we 
are to apprehend his meaning to have been this, — 
That according to the constitution of nature, the par- 
ticles of matter adapted to the formation of animals of 
fevery description, which, while the earth remained in 
a chaotic state, were blended with the general mass, 
did, at that eventful period, spontaneously secrete 
themselves, and by their innate qualities of attraction,- 
resort each to its proper station and receptacle, td 
ibrm and organize all the infinite variety of animals, 
feaeh in its respective genus, species and variety i 



which combinations of matter, being, by the same 
laws of nature (like the chicken in the egg,) gradual- 
ly formed, organized and sublimated by a genial heat, 
the vital bellows began to heave, the blood to circulate, 
wrA the whole animal burst forth into life and action. 
The work is not unworthy of a God, nor the thought 
of a philosopher. 

Whether this exposition corresponds with the ideas 
of the Hebrew philosQpher or iiot, may with some per-? 
haps, be a doubt ; but to my apprehension it does, most 
clearly ; and I can understand him in no other sense 
when he says, " And out of the ground the Lord God 
formed every beast of the Meld, and every fowl of the 
dr." And w r e cannot but understand him still in the 
same sense, when he says, — The Lord God formed 
man of the dust of the ground : for, their origin being 
the same, the process (whatever some men may think 

of it,) must undoubtedly have been the same. 

There is nothing in the text to warrant the opinion of 
those who suppose that God took into his hand a lump 
gf clay, like a potter, and moulded it into a man; for 
the mere motion of his will must, in all cases bo abun- 
dantly sufncient to the accomplishment of all his pur- 
poses. 

And when Moses adds, " that God breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living 
s^oul we are not to understand, that, in that act God 
communicated a breath or a soul to Adam, different 
in manner or in essence, from that which he commu-t 
nicated to every Qther animal : for the word here 
translated soul means only the principle of life, or an- 
imal soul : This the translators themselves have in- 
timated, by a marginal nqte, in some of our old bibles, 
shewing that the Hebrew words here translated a li- 
ving soul) strictly signify, when literally rendered, a 
living life, or in omer words, a living animal : but as 
the Hebrew idiom, a living life, would not sound well 
in the English language, they rendered it a living soul 
q, d. a living creature. 



F6 

The better to elucidate this construction we may 
here remark, that the idea of an immortal soul, capa- 
ble of existing separate from the body, had not, for 
aught that appears, originated in the days of Moses a 
nor until about a thousand years afterwards. 

Socrates, the founder of moral philosophy among the 
Greeks, who lived four hundred years before Christ, 
was probably the first who taught that doctrine ; as al- 
so that of a state of rewards and punishments, for 
which, and other sublime doctrines, hot well relished 
by his countrymen, the Athenians put him to death. 
They however soon after repented of their temerity, 
and erected a statue to his memory. Plato, a disci^ 
pie of his, propagated his doctrine, which in a short 
time took a general spread, and will, it is to be presu- 
med, be as lasting as lime. 

There is therefore, nothing in the Mosaic history of 
creation^ to discriminate the formation of man from 
that of other living creatures, but we are to presume 
the same mode or process obtained universally. An 
this hypothesis is greatly corroborated by the great a 
finity that pervades the whole, in the origin of the com- 
ponent parts- — the organs and manner of respiration — . 
the passions and senses common to all, except some 
few of the lowest grades— and that all are nourished 
by similar food, and liable to similar pains and dis« 
solution. 

But if we are to believe that Adam was formed me- 
chanically, by the finger of the Almighty, and Eve of 
one of his ribs,* then we are to believe that all male 
animals were formed by a similar process, and the fe- 
males of ribs extracted from them. 

But is it not altogether more likely that the infinite 
mind, in effecting the great and important work, adop- 

* A German Literatus has discovered that the word in 
Hebrew commonly translated rib, more firojierly signifies 
a tongue, and consequently that Eve was taken out of 
Admi's fongiif. 



ted general and systematic rules> by which the whole 
should be executed ? 

That the germs of all animals, whether inhabitants 
of the land or water, had an original existence, we are 
to presume, and that the creation of tliem consisted 
in causing them to assemble and expand, in determine 
ing the dimensions, organization, capacities, proper- 
ties, tastes and other attributes of every genus and spe- 
cies, according to the prescription of infinite wisdom. 
In the execution of which work, all the traits of a su- 
perlative intelligence were most conspicuously display- 
ed. And though we discover but the out-lines, and 
but even a small portion of these, yet we discover 
enough to inspire us with wonder and admiration — to 
captivate oub senses — to convince us of our own im- 
becility and the infinite perfections of the Deity, and 
feel ourselves impelled to acknowledge the incompre- 
hensibility of his wisdom, power and goodness. 

In contemplating the successive order in the ar- 
rangements of creation we are from various considera- 
tions induced to admit, that the formation of water 
animals had the priority : to evince this we need but 
refer the reader to Chap. II. That these existed in 
the empire of chaos, cannot admit of a doubt: for had 
not the formation of these taken place before the earth 
became habitable, their bones, shells and teeth could 
not have been incorporated with the solid rocks and 
stones, as they are in every country on the globe. And 
the germ of these appears to exist in the waters even 
to the present day : for wherever ponds, lakes or pools 
of standing water, are exposed to the sun, though it 
be hut for a short time, we find that hsiies and other 
water animals are generated in them, and, of a size 
proportioned to the extension and duration of the wa- 
ters. It appears that the germ is collected and ani- 
mated by the genial warmth of the sun, on a smooth 
surface; whence we are led! to coejecfoore, that the 
£'r«*cribwJitfj©f water y at some TOi^eut fptfmtfa wire** 



the larger water animals were formed, enjoyed a long 
calm and serene sky. 

The second in order of time, we are to conceive , 
must have been of the vegetable genus, the germ of 
which had, without doubt an original existence. And 
though plants and trees ordinarily spring from seeds, 
we are apt to think from some particular instances, 
that plants do sometimes, still spring from an original 
germ : but of this we cannot be confident. 

In the third order we rank the land animals : their ta- 
ble being now spread,it is time for them to come on and 
c 'ft joy the repast. And we must suppose them prior to 
ixiaii 3 as several kinds of them seem to have been design- 
ed, by a benefi cent providence, for his use : for without 
their subserviency he could hardly be supposed to ar* 
rive at a state of maturity, in his primary condition, 
nor have enjoyed, in this state, the felicities appropri- 
ated to his nature. 

The germ of man, we are to presume had also an 
original existence : him we deem the last and best, the 
most excellent and finished of all terrestrial creatures. 
The peculiar structure of his body, combined with 
the extensive capacities of his mind-*— in particular the 
superiority of his reason ai id faculty of speech, give 
him a decided pre-eminence, and are the distinguish- 
ing characteristics that mark the dignity of his nature, 
and form it to aspire after glory and immortality. 

It may be difficult at the first blush, to conceive by 
what possible means the primary stocks of animals, 
especially those of mankind , who are the most shift- 
less in infancy of any, should have been nurtured and 
brought up to maturity : but the rearing of all, from 
their infantile state, must, as well as their creation, be 
referred to tbe beneficent dispositions of divine pro- 
vidence, in previously accommodating circumstarces 
to the occasion. This view of the business will obvi- 
ate all difficulties. 

We are to consider that at the time of creation ma- 
vv peculiar and extraordinary scenes were displayed-; 



1$ 



such as had never before occurred, and never will oc- 
cur again. And, that ample provision for every event 
had been antecedently made in the original laws of 
nature. We may conjecture that all the ova or pro- 
creative matter of the several original pairs, was, by 
some process of nature collected to their proper recep- 
tacles, arranged and deposited in an appropriate num- 
ber of tunicles, for secretion and maturation ; that most 
probably both the male and his female were contained in 
the same wrapper, and both ushered into life at the 
same moment, that the most suitable season was ap- 
pointed, for the time of gestation and birth ; while the 
air was serene and mild ; salubrious and undisturbed 
by tempests — that the present stocks coming immedi- 
ately from the hand of nature, were every way perfect 
in their kind, and by far more vigorous and athletic 
than those of future generations. 

With regard to the human kind, we must suppose the 
parent stocks were, when first introduced to life, endow- 
ed with greater powers of body and mind, than those of 
their progeny : more sagacious, active and vigorous ; 
furnished with teeth for masticating their food, a cir- 
cumstance that has sometimes occurred in modern 
times ; that they w r ere able to walk as soon as it be- 
came necessary ; that their birth place abounded with 
delicious fruits and nutrative plants, perhaps with ho- 
ney dews and manna, as do some countries at the pre- 
sent day, all which, they had strength of body and 
capacity of mind to collect and make proper use of. 
Besides it is very possible that the animals friendly to 
man, as the sheep, goat and cow, might from instinct, 
have voluntarily approached them, and given them 
suck. We are to suppose they were destined to a very ra- 
pid growth, and at an early age capable of providing for 
ihemselvcs sufficient shelter and the necessary cloth- 
ing : and that in some cave, the faithful dog may have 
slept by their side, to keep them warm, and watch for 
their protection. 

Under all these auspicious circumstances,or such oth- 



2d 

ers, are we bound to believe an all-wise and benevo- 
lent providence would undoubtedly furnish to the pri- 
mary pairs destined to propagate a progeny as lasting 
as time, it was impossible that they should miscarry ; 
nor could they fail of progressing in a short time to 
maturity. 

Having thus expressed my own ideas of the manner in 
which the creation of animals was executed, it is sub- 
mitted to the examination of the judicious reader, not 
doubting but he will correct (in his own mind at least) 
whatever absurdity he may seem to discover in the 
suggestions. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of the Constitution of Nature, or Divine Providence* 

CONNECTED with Creation, is the physical sys- 
tem, which consists in certain immutable laws, ordain- 
ed by the creator, constantly to operate by way of cause 
and effect so linked together that every elf ect becomes 
a new cause, and thus proceeds from eternity to eternity. 
These laws are sometimes called fate, or destiny ; some- 
times God's decrees ; Gods providence, or the constitu- 
tion of nature. The thing meant and understood,by these 
various epithets, is all the same. — It is a perpetual and 
immutable disposition of things, following one upon an- 
other, which must of necessity come to pass, the causes 
of them being founded in nature. This institution was 
conceived in infinite wisdom, and cannot therefore, 
be altered for the better, and we may assure ourselves 
it will never be altered for the worse ; we are 
therefore to presume, it never has suffered, and never 
will suffer, any kind of alteration whatever. 

Whatever phenomena may, from the imbecility of 
our own minds, appear to be the effect of chance, or, the 
result of supernatural interposition; tlo^ as we m&f 



34 



be well assured result from the regular operation of 
these laws. These laws, however, are not to be sup- 
posed by any means to effect the will of the creature, 
whether rational or irrational, any further than to con- 
fine that will, to the laws of animal nature. For, tho* 
animated nature is subject to the operation of all the 
laws of the physical system, yet these general laws 
have no controul over the will of the creature, but 
have so far established it, that that will shall be per- 
fectly free, and result entirely from the unconstrained 
energies of the mind : the moral government of man 
being confided to him as man, is solely regula- 
ted by his own opinions and conscience. 

For the more important laws of the physical system, 
we may recur to the laws of the solar system ; to the 
planets and comets which compose that system. The- 
science of Astronomy which has been progressing from 
the time that Babylon and Egypt commenced the ca- 
reer of their scientific glory, to the present day 3 is 
founded entirely on the immutability of these laws. 
Which laws have for their basis, as has been discover- 
ed and demonstrated, by the immortal Newton and 
his followers, the combined laws of attraction and re- 
pulsion. And though it may not have fallen to our lot, 
to be competent masters of this art ourselves, to per- 
form the necessary calculations, yet we well know that 
many of our contemporaries are so. By these fixed 
laws it is, that the astronomer is enabled to calc.ula.te 
with the utmost precision, the rising, setting and place 
in the ecliptic, of the sun, moon and stars ; their rela- 
tive positions and eclipses ; the length of the day, and 
of the year ; the periodical return of the tides, kc. 

And notwithstanding the apparent fickleness in the 
motions, fluctuations and appearances of the atmos- 
phere, the system of meteorology, and whatever re- 
lates to the air, the earth or the waters, are no less 
subject to the uniform and unceasing operation of these 
laws, than are the luminaries of heaven. These in- 
deed, have not like those, their motions and periods 



assigned ; they are to our planet, what the passions 
are t© man, fluctuating and versatile : but still no ef? 
feet, be it ever so small, and its duration ever so short, 
can ever take place without a cause, and every cause is 
founded in the constitution of nature. 

The winds are, perhaps, of all things the most no? 
ted for versatility. But the causes of these have been 
satisfactorily ascertained. The air is found by exper? 
iment, to be capable of expansion and compression ; 
the former is produced by heat ; the latter by cold.— r 
Where the sun pours down its rays with the greatest 
vehemence, there the air becomes the most rarified, or 
thin and light : where it is compressed by cold it is 
the most dense, thick, an$ heavy ; the thin air asr 
cends, the thick air presses into its place ; it is then 
in motion, and this motion is called wind. This ef- 
fect is produced in many places on the globe at one 
and the same time : many winds therefore, and those 
of various directions, are then in motion. They some- 
times unite their forces and produce a breeze, gale, 
tornado or hurricane. They sometimes meet and pro? 
duce whirlwinds. Whirlwinds and other winds, are 
sometimes produced by the electric fluid. Winds be-r 
ing sometimes over-powered by other winds in an ad- 
verse direction, are turned to some different course,, 
o: driven backward. When their force is exhausted^ 
they cease and ail is calm. This is however, but a 
general sketch. There are besides these, a great va- 
riety of accessary causes for the production and acceU 
eration of particular winds. But as I am not about tq 
give a systematic treatise on winds, I must stop here. 

Watery meteors are composed of vapours separated 
from each other by means of heat, driven about by the 
winds, and variously modified into rain, hail or snow, 
according to the temperature of the air in the regions 
through which they pass. 

The Ignis Fatuus, commonly called Jack-with-a^. 
lantern, to which vulgar and ignorant minds attach 
U>mt superstitious ideas, cpnsist of a kind of viscous, 



m 

Substance ; and are a kind bf fat exhalation arising 
from the earth ; which being irradiated by a small 
portion of electricity, reflect a kind of thin flame, 
without any sensible heat : and communicate scarcely 
the smallest degree of light to the objects near which 
they pass. 

St. Hermes's fire, which, especially in the event of 
thunder storms, frequently appears about the mast's 
and shrouds of ships at sea, is equally a natural pro- 
duction, and undoubtedly of the electric kind. Anala- 
gous to these, are those fiery meteors, which in a se- 
rene evening have a resemblance to stars, enamelling 
all the azure sky : as also these cftlled shooting stars, 
and fire balls* : some of these are observed when 
shooting, to make a hissing, and sometimes to disap- 
pear with an explosion. The last are conjectured to 
consist of a quantity of electricity, inclosed in some 
kind of shell of condensed vapors. 

The moral system is constantly irradiated by the ac- 
quisition of new light, and the human mind continually 
progressing in science : but when science shall attain to 
the highest point of perfectability, time only can discov- 
er. But that science will at any period become universal, 
we cannot conceive, for ignorance and superstition are 
the never-ceasing hereditaments of the great mass of 
mankind. 

A variety of experiments in electricity and chemis- 
try, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, have 
led the scientific enquirer to many important discove- 
ries in natural philosophy. No period of equal length 
since time begun, can boast an equal progress, or any 
thing to compare with it. The superstitious horrors 
heretofore attached to the more astonishing phenome- 
na of nature have vanished before the light of reason, 
sound sense, and experiment. Thunder and lightning* 1 ; 
the Aurora Borealis ; Waterspouts : Volcanoes ; — . 
Earthquakes ; the rising of Islands from the bottom 



* Fire Ball, Dec. 14, 1807. 



u 

of the sea, Whirlwinds, and several other appearances 
in nature, the true cause of which had escaped the re- 
searches of all past ages, have been recently proved to 
result from the operations of electricity. 

The electric fluid, which till these late discoveries 
was hardly known to exists has been shewn to demjon* 
stration to be derived from light : and to pervade the 
earth in all its parts, but more in some parts than in 
others, according as it meets with conductors in ex- 
tending its course to the northward or southward 
from the equator, that being its principal place of 
penetrating into the earth. This light, or electricity, 
passes into all bodies capable of receiving it, which 
bodies being at length overcharged, explode ; and the 
explosion produces an earthquake, a volcano, or wa* 
terspout, according to concomitant circumstances : It 
sometimes bursts from the ground in flashes of fire, 
which destroys whatever happens at the time to stand 
on the *pot of eruption. It sometimes ascends imper- 
ceptibly into the atmosphere, where it meets with wa* 
tery vapors, charges the clouds, and afterwards bursts 
forth in thunder and lightning ; and great quantities of 
it rising to the upper regions of the air, forms those 
meteors called shooting stars, fire balls, mock-suns, 
halos, and the northern lights, or aurora borealis. 

All these phenomena, most of which have formerly 
been deemed ominous of awful events, and the sure to- 
kens of Heaven's displeasure, and others the agents of 
Almighty vengeance, are now known to proceed from 
natural causes. Thunder and lightning, man has 
learned to wield, by proper conductors, so as to se- 
cure himself from its dire effects ; as also to dissipate 
those of water-spouts, by pointing a sword or firing a 
cannon at them as they approach. The others do not 
as yet, and perhaps never may appear so managable. 

From a full conviction that all the phenomena of na- 
ture do in fact proceed from physical causes and not 
from the immediate act of an angry or menacing De* 
ity, the philosophic mind, or rational soul, will hence* 



J&fward acquiesce in its fete i considering that the 
Omnipotent never deviates from the established rules 
of his eternal provident e, either to afflict or felicitate 
man. And the sons and daughters of superstition may* 
no longer consider, even the most astonishing appear* 
ances or events in nature, as the threatnings or chast- 
isements of an angry God. But must confess, sooner 
or later, that all th& occurrencies in the physical sys- 
tem, how irregular, fluctuating, or incalculable, so 
ever they may appear to short-sighted mortals, are gov- 
erned fey laws as unchangeable as He who ordained 
^henx. 

CHAPTER V. 

A further view of the Constitution of Nature* 

THE nations of antiquity have been amazingly fer- 
tile in the invention of ideal deities ; they have multi- 
plied them even to infinity. Their imaginary gods and 
goddesses presided, as they conceived, severally and 
unconnected, as well over the elements, as over every 
thing else. The vicissitudes of wind and- -weather, as 
well as eveiy other event, were attributed to them. 
They seem to have imagined a constant scuffle among 
their deities, in which now the one and now the other 
prevailed, by which means they effectuated the sudden 
changes, whether fortunate or unfortunate, which they 
experienced in the weather, in their health, or in their 
interests. And however absurd these sentiments may 
appear to this enlighted age, I must say to my chris- 
tian neighbors and friends (whatever they may think of 
it) that whenever they attribute to the o .e eternal and 
immutable God, as his immediate act, the changes of 
wind and weather, or of the fortunate or unfortunate 
circumstances incident to man, they fall into a$ great 



38 • 

an absurdity as did these deluded sons of nature, fo*^ 

we are warranted by the experience of ages to say, that 
He never dispenses' with the laws of nature to bring 
either good or evil upon the world ; but on the contra- 
ry, that he always preserves these laws inviolate ; and 
that every grade of animated nat ure is, as being of sec- 
ondary consideration only, forever subject to the Con- 
troul and operation of the general laws of providence. 
And so say the Prophets, Gocl.is.no respector of per* 
sons : and, all things (in this life,) happen alike to %h» 
righteous and to the wicked. 

God is, as we must believe, an original Being : an 
original being we must suppose exists of necessity : 
He is therefore necessarily whatever he is, and of 
course cannot change himself, nor dispense with any 
one of his attributes, His attributes must therefore, 
be as immutable as himself ; and his will resulting 
from his attributes, must be equally unchangeable. 
How then are we to suppose him perpetually at work 
hi every section of the globe, wielding the wind and 
the weather, and every other phenomenon of the earth 
and the sky ? Are we to conceive the Deity to be as 
inconstant as the wind and the weather ? By no means. 
That he extends through all extent and is every where 
present, we must believe : but that he has at any time 
from the beginning, altered or over-ruled a single law 
in the physical system of the universe, we are not au- 
thorised to believe. We are therefore to conceive that 
all nature is governed, and all events produced, not by 
his immediate act, nor by any change in his will ; but 
that every dispensation is in perfect accord with the ori- 
ginal laws of nature. 

I) ur birth and OxlX death, our sickness and our health, 
all result from natural Onuses. . It is by these fixed laws, 
that both in the vegetable ^ animal kingdoms, a con-, 
stunt reproduction "and dissolution is kept up. One 
comes on the stage, another g0p»-Pff) w4 a third suc- 
ceeds.; and by v the same laws, ail jnatter is kept m 



motion, either Increasing or decaying, and yet the 
world, in reality, receives no addition, and suffers- no 
diminution. 

The wood consumed by fire does but change its mode 
of existence : the aqueous ^nd aerial particles fly oft, 
and aged a intermix with their respective elements, 
-w hile the earthy parts are converted to ashes. The, 
waters evaporated by the sun return in dews and show- 
ers. The original quantities of fire, air, earth and 
water, cannot be increased or diminished. They may 
however, he expanded, rariHed, compressed or re- 
moved. The exhalation of volatile spirits, the con- 
sumption of gun powder and &II other combustible* 
annihilate nothing : the aggregate of their component 
parts may be dissipated, but their essences still e:;i^: 
in their various repositories'. Thus it h with a}'! pel* 
ibhable substances whatever : their contexture may be 
dissolved but their stamina suli exists. 

The laws of nature are not limited to the contrac- 
ted sphere of human observation, but pervade, :3i 
worlds ; the greater bodies as well as the lesser j sv- - 
tcms and atoms ; animate and inanimate. Every Qfi> 
restriai thing of whatsoever nature or quality it he, is, 
by the constant operation of these laws in a state of 
motion, or mutation, the rocks and stones not except- 
ed : For even these are corroded and wrought upon 07 
the contact of the cdr, and may perhaps he ul:imatc;y 
dissolved : some of them indeed, are already deeaved 
and others are decaying.' The world itself, therefore, 
heing constructed of changeable rm.Ueri?.!s, we im.r 
conceive Subject to change in total ; but the compo- 
nent parts being original cannot be subject to annim- 
L.lion : for that which had no beginning wiii have no 
end. 

By reasoning from analogy and appearances, wc are 
induced to believe that the Almighty, who, we arc to 
presume anticipated all possible averts, at the time ho 
established, thj laws, and hud an infallible prescience 



£8 



of the modes and periods of their operation : and m the 
mechanism of the system predetermined the time and 
manner of the earths -demolition ated resuscitation : all 
which shortid he effectuated by their operation. And 
Chat the earth has already passed one metamorphosis, 
at least ; is very obvious. This we shall take occasion 
to verify in the course of this work. 

The human mind, easBy captivated by the marvel- 
lous, especially when in a state of ignorance, too often 
ascribes to miracle, the effects produced by natural 
causes. But when we take a retrospect of the progress 
c-l science, and follow the human mind in the devel- 
tipameni of natural causes, many of which former ages 
had deemed supernatural, we may with a good de- 
gree of assurance, attribute every event, perhaps* 
within cur cognizance to some natural cause, whether 
we are able to trace it up to its sourse or not. For f 
from reiterated experiments we must be sensible, that 
She extent of natural causes far exceeds the extent of 
: c-ur utmost disquisitions. And, from the powers of 
the human mind already developed, we may be con- 
vinced, that many "which are yet undiscovered, may 
hereafter be ascertained. And, that a miracle, being 
an effect contrary to the laws of nature cannot be sup- 
posed to take place in our system, where every thing; 
is already as perfect as it ought to be : for the Deity 
himself cannot perform it without counteracting the 
sacred institutions of his own wisdom : A nd, that h& 
never acts thus inconsistantly, we ought to be convin- 
ced from the immutability of his character* 

CHAPTER VI. 

The World has been formerly destroyed by an cxunda- 
tion of the $ea. 
THIS hypothesis we conceive may be well substau- 



2* 

tlatc d by the depositories of marine exuviae which are 
discovered on every land. We shall therefore intro* 
duce the business be a general history of 
DOSSIL SHELLS. 

These have frequently called up the attention of the 
curious, a:id been a fruitful source of doubt, conjec- 
ture and speculation. Nothing wkhin the sphere of 
human disquisition, has a more. powerful tendency to 
convince the unprejudiced mind of the trutji of the 
propostion before us, and at the same time, it presents 
to our view, many cogent, if not irrefutable reasons, 
to believe that the present world was created on the 
ruins of an old world. " Whatever depths of the earth 
we examine, or at whatever distance within land we 
seek, we most commonly find a number of fossil shells, 
which being compared with others from the sea, f 
known kinds, are found to be exactly of a similar shape 
and nature. They are found at the very bottom of 
quarries and mines ; in the most retired and inward 
parts of the most firm and solid rocks, upon the tops 
of even the highest hills and mountains, as well as in 
the vaiiies and plains , and this not in one country a- 
lone, but in ail places where there is any digging for 
marble, chalk, or other terrestrial matters that are 
so compact as to fence off the external injuries of the 
air, and thus preserve these shells from decay."* 

J? These marine substances so commonly diffused, 
and so generally to be met with, were for a longtime 
considered by the philosophers, as productions not of the 
sea, but of the earth: As we find that spars, say they, 
always shoot into peculair shapes, so these seeming 
snails, cockles and muscle shells are 'only the sportive 
forms which nature assumes among others of its min- 
eral varieties ; they have the shape of fish, indeed, 
but they have always been terrestrial substances."! 



* Woodivai^s essay toivardx Natural History fi. 16. 
t LozvtJi's abridg. Phil. Tram. vol. II.fi. 426. 
C 2 



ki With this plausible solution mankind were for a 
long time content, but upon further enquiry, they were 
obliged to alter their opinion. It was found that these 
shells had, in every respect, the properties of animal 
and not of mineral nature, They were found exactly 
of the same weight with their fellow shells upon the 
shore. They answered all the chemical trials in the 
same manner as sea-sheiis did. Their parts, when 
dissolved had the same appearance to view ; the same 
smell and taste. They had the same effect in medi- 
cine when inwardly administered ; and in a word, 
were so exactly conformable to marine bodies, that 
they had all the accidental concretions growing to them 
(such as pearls, corals and smaller shells) which are 
found in shells just gathered on the shore. They were 
therefore from these considerations, again given back 
to the sea. But their wonder was, how to account for 
their coming so far from their own natural element 
upon land. "| 

" At Touraine in France, more than an hundred 
miles from the sea, there is a plain of about nine 
leagues long and as many broad, whence the peasants 
of the country supply themselves with marie for manu* 
ring their lands ; they seldom dig deeper than twenty 
feet ; and the whole plain is composed of the same 
materials, which are shells of various kinds, without 
the smallest portion of earth between them. Here 
then is a large space, in which are deposited millions 
of tons of shells, at a great distance from the sea."** 

England is furnished with beds, which, though not 
so extensive, yet are equally wonderful. ft u -Near 
Reading, in Berkshire, for many succeeding genera- 
tions, a considerable body of oyster shells has been 
found through the whole circumference of five or six 
acres of ground. The foundation of these shells, is a 

| IVccdward, ju 43—** Gdftfsthith 9 * Hist. Anim. Kat. 
ml J. /.are 25— ft Philo. Trans, vol. Jl. jmgv 427^" 



hard rocky chalk ; and above the chalk, the oyster 
shells lie in a green sand, upon a level, as nigh as can 
possibly be judged, and about two feet in thickness." 
These shells are in their natural state, but they are 
found also petrified, and in almost equal abundance *t in 
all the Alpine rocks — in the Pyrenees — on the hills of 
France, England and Flanders. Even in all quarries 
whence marble is dug, if the rocks be split perpen- 
dicularly downwards, petrified shells and other marine 
substances, will be plainly discerned." 

u About a quarter of a mile from the river Medway* 
in the county of Kent, after the taking off the coping 
of a piece of ground there, the workmen came to a 
blue marble, which continued for three feet and an 
half deep or more, and then beneath appeared a hard 
floor or pa vement composed of petrified shells crowded 
closely together. This layer was about an inch deep 
and several yards over, and it could be walked upon as 
upon a beach. The stones of which it was composed, 
(for the describer supposes them to have always been 
stones) were either wreathed as snails, or bi valvular 
lilve cockles. The wreathed kind were about the size 
of an hazle nut, and were filled with a stony substance, 
of the colour of marie, and they themselves also till they 
were washed, were of the same colour, but when clean- 
sed they appeared of the colour of bezoar, jand of the 
same: polish. After boiling in water, they became 
whitish, and left a chalkiness on the fingers." 

In several parts of Asia and Africa, travellers have 
observed these shells in gve«t abundance. In the 
mountains of Cast ravafl, which lie above the city of 
B<u*ut in Syria, they quarry out a white stone, every part 
of which contains petrified fishes in great numbers, and 
of surpiising diversity. These seem also to continue 
in«uch piTiservation, that their fins, scales, and all the 



*l Buff. vol. 1. p. 407 * Phih Tram vet II.fi. 426; 



32 



minutest distinctions of their make can be perfectly 

discerned |j 

" From all these instances we may conclude that these 
fossils are very numerous : and indeed^, independent of 
their situation : they afford no small entertainment £0? 
observe them as preserved in the cabinets of the cu- 
rious. The variety of their kinds is astonishing. Most 
of the sea-shells that are known, and many others> 
which we are entire strangers toy are to be seen, either 
in their natural state, or, in various* degrees of petri- 
faction, f In the place of some we have mere spar or 
stone, exactly expressing all the lineaments of Ani- 
mals as havingbeen wholly formed from them. For it 
has happened, that the shells dissolving by slow de- 
grees, and the matter having very nicely and exactly 
filled all the cavities within, this matter, after the 
shells have perished, has preserved exactly and regu- 
larly the whole print of their internal surface. Of 
these there are various kinds found in our pits \ many 
of them resembling those of our own shores, and 
many others, that are only to be found on the coasts of 
other countries. There are some small shells resem- 
bling those that are never stranded upon our coasts* 
but that always remain in the deep *t : and many more 
that are, which we can assimulate with no shells that 
are known among us : but we find not only shells in 
our pits, but also fishes and corals in great abundance, 
together with almost every sort of marine production. 
Of animals there are various parts ; the vertebra of 
Whales and the mouths of lesser fishes : these with 
teeth also of various kinds. 

" From all these instances we see in what abundance 
these productions are to be found. On which, Mr 1 , 
Goldsmith has remarked, that he is surprised that 
Mr. Buffon, (to whose accounts he has added some,) 



\\Buffbn y vol. I. /i. 408.— t Mill, fi. 646.— \ Gold- 
smith, vol. I. ft. 36. — * Littorales.—*t Peiagii* 



do 

should have omitted the mention of one, which in som© 

measure, more than any of the rest, would have ser- 
ved to strengthen his theory., He states, that we are 
informed by almost every traveller * that has described 
the pyramids of Egypt,- that one of them is entirely 
built of a kind of freestone, in which those petrified 
shells are found in great abundance. He is.of opin- 
ion that this being the case, it may be conjectured, as 
we have accounts of the pyramids among the earliest 
records of mankind ; and of their being built so long 
before the age of Herodotus, who lived but fifteen hun- 
dred years after the flood, that even the Egyptian 
priest, could not tell the time, nor the cause of their 
election: it may there Tore be conjectured that they 
were erected but a short time aft er the fiood. Whence 
he concludes, that it is not very likely that the marine 
f>uostc.nces found in one of them, had time to be form- 
ed into a part of the solid stone, either during the de- 
luge or immediately after it. and consequently their 
petrifaction must have been before that period. And 
this Mr. Goldsmith alleges, is the opinion Mr. Buffon 
h^s all along so strenuously endeavoured to maintain ; 
having given specious reasons to prove that such sheila 
v. ore kid in the beds where they are now found, not 
only before the deluge, but even antecedent to the for- 
mation of man ; at a time when the whole oarth was, 
as he supposes btrrjed beneath a covering of waters. 

f u H u*: while there are many reasons to persuade 
us that these extraordinary fossils have been deposited 
by the sea, there is one fact, that wii' serve to con- 
vince us that the earth was habitable, if not inhabited, 
before the marine substances came to be thus deposit- 
ee! For we find fossil trees which, no doubt, once 
grew upon the earth, as deep, and as much in the body 
of solid rocks, as these shells are found to be Some 



* Has* 'lyuijsh ^CLiidya % — \ Goldsmith's Jiijm. Axt.vQl. 



34 



of these fallen trees also have Iain as long^ ii not long- 
er, in the earth, than the shells, as they have been 
sunk deep in a marly substance, composed of decay- 
ed shells and other marine productions. Mr. Buftbn 
has proved that Ibssii shells could not have been depo- 
sited in such quanliuc.i all at once by the flood/'* Mr. 
Goldsmith has proved, that, however they were de- 
posited, the earth was covered with trees before their 
deposition, and of course, it was a habitable world. 



CHAPTER VII. 

dMERICJJSr FOSSILS. 

'A vast bed of shells in- Georgia. —It is a well knowfi 

fact, that on the banks of the river Savannah in the 
state of Georgia, about ninety miles from the; sea m a 

* If the flood was in fact fir educed by rain, Mr. Buf* 
fon is correct ; for a food of that kind, could not have 
deposited, ail at once , such quantities of marine exuvit?, 
nor indeed any at all. Bui when I have proved, as I 
shall attempt to do by and bye, that the food was caused 
&y a prodigious inundation of t he sea, attended with vio- 
lent winds and currents, which tore from their beds, wih 
which the bottom cf the sea is fiaved, amazing quantities 
efshell-fi?h, which were by the impetuosity ff the cut - 
rents and billows, carried forward and deposited on cvt~- 
ry land : it will ihen appear that hia argument it^jnot 
conclusive. 

That these depositions took place after the earth became 
habitable, the reasons assigned by Mr. Goldsmith, clear- 
ly evince : For had not the earth been habitable previous 
to these depositions, fossil trees could net have been in* 
terniioced with fostil shells ; for we are bound to believe 
that country is habitable which abounds in trees. 



55 

itireoitine, and 15© or £00 as the fiver runs, there Is 
a very remarkable collection of oyster shells of an e- 
nornious size, generally eighteen or twenty inches in 
length, and from two to four in thickness, and in their 
hollow sufficient to Teceive an ordinary mans foot. 
They run in a north-east and south-west direction, 
nearly parallel to the sea coast ; in three distinct rid- 
ges, which, together, occupy a space of seven miles 
in breadth. The ridges commence at Savannah river, 
and have* be en traced as far south as the northern bran- 
ches of the Altamaha river. These ridges are on a le- 
vel ground, about seventy feet higher than the surface 
©f the river. These banks of shells are covered with a. 
vegetative surface, generally, about three or four feet 
deep : they are petrified, and bear, generally, the co- 
lour unci consistency of clear white marble ; the inhab- 
itants make them into lime for various uses. They 
lie upon a stratum of yellow sand mould, of several 
feet in depth, upon a foundation of soft white rocks, 
which have the outward appearance of freestone, but 
are upon strict examination, as Mr. Bart ram asserts, 
a testaceous concrete : or, composition of sand and 
pulverized sea-shells. 

fO^ Here We nod* firstly, a vegetative surface, then 
the large oyster shells, next below these a stratum of 
yellow sand, and under these a testaceous concrete. 
That these several layers were brought on and deposit- 
ed by extraordinary tides ; the testaceous concrete and 
shells by flood tides, and the yellow sand and vegeta- 
tive mould by the ebbtides, we may with good reason 
conjecture. A demonstration of ~hich we expect will 
be the result of these observations. In the mean tir 
we would suggest, that from the size and quantity oi 
the oyster shells, we are to suppose their native bed 
to have been in deep water, where they enjoyed long 
repose and vast increase. And, that they were dis- 
Jcdged by force of violent currents, assisted, as they 
approached shallow water, by the tumultuous billows 



# - 

of the ocean; ano! arranged in their present pe>siti©% 

by successive and extraordinary tides. That such vi* 
olent currents agitated the ocean, in the-generai \vreck 
of nature, we shall take occason to shew, when w% 
come to consider the physical caiise of the deluge/; 
Which if we are hot out in our conjecture, originated, 
in ^6trie ! ^reat measure from the fusion of the polap 
ices. 

In Dutch 1 Guiana, (Surinam) which includes a lengt^ 
*>f sea cdast, of one hundred arid twenty • miles, there 
runs through the whole country a ridge of oyster-shells, 
nearly parallel to the sea coast,' and about three or four 
leagues from it, of a considerable breadth, and from 
four to eight feet deep, composed of shells, exactly 
of the same nature as those which form the present 
coast. 

On the Andes, sea shells aire found at more than 
two miles and three quarters, perpendicular height 
above the sea level. 

Sea shells have been found far within land at Hud* 
«oh*s Bay, whence the natives conceive that their coun- 
try has been washed by the sea. Clam shelis have 
been discovered at the depth of twenty feet, in digging 
a well near Dartmouth College, New-tlampshire. A 
body of fossil shells has been discovered in the town* 
ship of New-Market, in the same state, where the 
bed of the ri ver never could have run : these were mus- 
cles, oysters, and sea-clams, intermixed. The land of 
New-Jersey, like that of the more southern states, ap- 
pears to be made land, and on digging, on an average 
about fifty feet below the surface (whibh may be dofie 
even at the distance of twenty or thirty miles from the 
aea, without any impediment from rock's and stones) 
you come to a salt marsh. An oyster shell that would 
hold a pint, was dug up out of a marsh fifty feet deep 
in digging a well. 

The most superficial observer cannot but have noti- 
ced, that alt the hills and liiountain* f have, at ioiiie 



ancient period, been overwhelmed with water, and the 
lighter soil washed from them and reposited in the 
vallies., forming those rich bottoms through which the 
winding streams take their courses. It is equally evi- 
dent, that not only all the level country, from New- 
Jersey to Georgia inclusive, but those vast levels bor- 
dering on the Mississippi and its branches, as well as 
the Floridas : as also ail those extensive low countries 
of South America, stretching from the gulf of Mexico 
to Patagonia, and from the Atlantic ocean on the east, 
to the Cordilleras of the Andes on the west, have ap- 
parently been made by the same means. 

Marine shells, and other exuviae peculiar to the sea, 
are invariably found in the Southern United States, 
throughout all the level country, by digging eighteen 
■or twenty feet below the surface of the earth. 

The spot on which Philadelphia stands is made-land, 
" The different strata through which they pass in dig- 
ging to water, the acorns, leaves, and sometimes bran- 
ches, which are found more than twenty feet below 
the surface all seem to demonstrate this."* 

In all the flat country in the Southern States, where- 
ever you dig a well you find the water at a certain 
depth, tolerably good, but if you exceed that depth 
two or three feet, you come to a brackish water that 
is scarcely drinkable ; and the earth dug up resembles 
in appearance and smell, that which is dug up in salt 
marshes. 

At the bottom of the river banks in those flat coun- 
tries, fifteen or twenty feet below the surface of the 
earth, are frequently washed out from the solid ground, 
logs, branches, and leaves of trees, and the whole 
banks from top to bottom is in some places intersper- 
sed with layers of logs, leaves and sand. These ap- 
pearances are seen far up the rivers, to eighty or an 
hundred miles from the sea, where, when the rivers 



Mr. Charles Thompson's remarks. 

D 



-38 



^ai*e low, the banks aire from eighteen to twenty feet 
high ; and as you proceed down the river, the heights 
of the banks are diminished, but still are formed of 
layers of sand, leaves and logs : some of which are, en- 
tirely sound and appear to have been suddenly covered 
to a considerable depth, and have doubtless lain there 
for ages ; and were probably of antediluvian growth. 

It is worthy of observation, that there is a gradual 
descent, of about eight hundred feet , by actual men- 
suction, from the foot of the mountains to the. sea- 
board : as . also, that the soil on the banks of the. riversj 
and elsewhere in the fiat country, is proportionally 
coarse or fine according to its distance from the. moiuv 
tains : and for a considerable distance we may, remark, 
that the soil is coarse with a large mixture of sand and 
shining heavy particles : as you proceed towards the 
•sea, the soil is less coarse ; and so in proportion as 
you advance, the soil is finer and finer, until finally, is 
deposited a soil so fine that it consolidates into a perfect 
clay : but a clay of a peculiar quality. For a, great 
part of it has intermixed with it, redish streaks and 
veins, like a species of ochre, which was probably brot' 
from the red lands that lie toward the mountains. — - 
This clay when dug up and exposed to the weather, 
will dissolve into a fine mould, without the least mix- 
ture of sand or any gritty substance whatever. 

Now we know that running waters when turbid, will 
deposit, first, the coarsest and heaviest particles, then 
those of the intermediate degrees of fineness, ..anckul? 
timately those that are the most light and subtle. And 
such in fact is the general quality of the soil, in all the 
level country between the Alleghany mountains, and 
the sea : with this difference only, that in some plai- 
ces as you approach near the shore, you find a larger 
proportion of sea-sand intermixed with the.soil. Hence- 
it is evident that the soil of these countries was washed 
down from the mountains, and this being in all places 
uppermost, furnishes us, grounds to conjecture. tha£ 



39 



k was brought oil by the ebb tide of ihe universal de- 
luge. 

FOSSILS IN YOBS AND JAMES RIVERS. 

The eastern part of Virginia is a champaign country. 
From the mountains to the sea, is from one hundrect 
and fifty to two hundred miles. The whole has the 
appearance of made land, and of having been was he-.! 
by the sea. The land between York and James rivers, 
is very level and its surface about forty feet above high 
water mark. It appears from observation to have ri- 
sen to its present freight at different periods, which 
the wiiter of this article, supposes to have been far 
distant from each other ; and that at those periods it 
was washed by the sea. For near Yorktown where tho 
hanks are perpendicular, you first see a stratum inter- 
mixed with small shells, resembling a mixture of clay 
and sand, about five feet thick : on this an horizontal 
layer of sma.ll white shells, cockles, clams kc. an inch or 
two thick : then a body of earth similar to that first 
mentioned, eighteen inch.es thick : then a layer of 
shells and another body of ear Civ* on this a layer of 
three feet of white shells mixed with sand ;' on which 
lies a body of oyster shells six feet thick, which are co- 
vered with earth, to the surface. The oyster shells are- 
so united by a sti&ng cement, that they fall only when 
undermined, and then in large bodies from one to 
twenty tons weight. These have from the shore the 
appearance of large rocks. 

Similar appearances are continued in a greater or 
lesser degree, in the banks of Jaines river, also, an 
hundred miles from the sea. These appearances then 
vary, and the banks are filled wiih sharks teeth ; bones 
of l^r ace and small fishes, petrified; and many other 
petrihiclions ; some of them resembling the bones of 
land animals, some of sea animals, and others, veget- 
able substances. 

These appearances are not con fined, however, to 
the river banks, but seen in various other places, in 



4# r 

gullies at a considerable distance from the river: whence, 
we Sire led to conjecture, that they are scattered under 
the soil generally, throughout all this fiat country. In 
f-ne pari of the state for seventy miles in length, by 
•nr. king a well you apparently come to the bottom of 
what was formerly a water-course. And even as high" 
fcs Botetoifrt county, (among the Alleghany moun- 
t .. ins) there is a tract of land judged to contain forty 
thousand acres, surrounded on every side by mount- 
wins, which is entirely covered with oyster and cockle 
shells ; and from gullies within the tract, they appear 
to he of considerable depth At Days point, on James 
river, there is a plantation of as many as one thousand 
acres, which appears at a distance as if covered with 
snow ; this whiteness is caused by a bed of clam shells, 
I y repeated piowings become fine, and mixed with a 
small proportion of earth. 

|C7* According to the above details' we find in the 
banks of York river, eight new layers of different de- 
scription above the old surface. These our author 
supposes to have been depositee: at very distant periods. 
Of the fact there is no doubt, but to his deductions I 
cannot agree. For if he be correct in supposing the 
depositions at very distant periods, there must have 
been four deluges to complete the whole ; allowing 
two layers to a deluge, the one of sea-shells brought 
on by the flood-tide ; and the other, of earth, brought 
on by the ebb. These must, from appearances, have 
been great and universal deluges, which would have 
produced total changes on the earth ; and could not 
have failed, in all probability, of a total disorganization 
of all terrestrial animals. 

But whether the earth has already sustained so many 
metamorphosis, all these indications notwithstanding, 
is a problem which may never, perhaps foe satisfactori- 
ly solved. I would however, by no means, reprobate 
the idea, as impossible ; for the earth has, no doubt, 
existed income form or other from eternity, and what 



41 



changes it has undergone in that unlimited period, is a 
subject beyond the Researches of human art. That the 
earth was a habitable planet, and actually inhabited, 
previous to the commencement of the present raceo 
of men and other animals, I expect to demonstrate to 
the full satisfaction of unprejudiced reason, in the 
course of this essay. Shells, bones and teeth, which 
have escaped the fate of softer animal substances, and 
are now found in an elegant state of preservation, in 
rocks, stones, salt-licks, river banks, gullies and the 
bowels of the earth, are standing testimonies of the 
fact : to which we may add fossil bricks and a fossil 
wall. 

Whatever effect the indications of York river may 
have upon the minds of some men, to me it appears 
altogether more likely, that these layers were all for- 
med by four different tides during one and the same 
deluge : or to speak more correctly, by four deluges 
following close upon the heel of each other, to the to- 
tal destruction of the old world. And, we are to con- 
ceive, for reasons to be illustrated in the following pa- 
ges, that at the time of the deluge, the sea acquired, 
from the fusion of the polar ices, a great augmenta- 
tion ; and, being highly agitated by extraordinary and 
violent currents in the waters and in the air, rolled 
mountain-high, and folding over, tore up the whole 
genus of shell-fish, (where the waters were not too deep) 
with which the bottom of the sea is paved, and still loa- 
ding over, with the utmost impetuosity ; and, being 
protruded by the next succeeding surge, still kept 
those shell-iish hovering in the water, till coming on 
the higher ground, the wave gradually diminished, 
and as it passed along deposited these shell- fish over 
the whole flat. That the swelling billows still rising, 
carried a part of these shells enfolded in its agitated 
bosom, over the first mountains, where, being hem- 
med in by other mountains, a sort of eddy was intro- 
duced; which gave the Roating shell-fish time to settle 
D 2 



4i; 

on the above mentioned forty thousand acres, and that 
a similar deposit was made on Days point. 

That the sharks and other inhabitants of the watery 
regions, being thrust forward by the impetuosity of the 
current, and further impelled by the surges, were 
clashed to pieces and deposited among -the shell-fish m 
this great wreck of nature. That the f© roe of the 
ters, having washed from the mountains great quanti- 
ties of loose soil, the ebb tide brought it down, and 
deposited it on the fiat, the heavier and coarser particles 
first, and -so. on -to the lightest and finest, in the order 
we now find them, thereby covering the shells and 
bones deposited by the flood tide. And we are to con- 
jecture that several of these astonishing tides followed 
in succession, and by that means deposited the differ- 
ent layers in the bank of York river, as before descri- 
bed- But more of this when we come to enquire in** 
the physical cause of the deluge. 

CHAPTER, VIII. 

The face of the country of South-Carolina^ tmd varieiw 
other 'Jihenometiain Natural History % affords strong 
indications of an Universal Deluge, 
THE general completion, of South-Carolina, as de- 
scribed by Doct. Morse in his geographical works, m 
exceedingly well adapted to the support of our hypoth- 
esis ; and seems to prove that the earth has been at 
some ancient period? overwhelmed and destroyed by 
an inundation of the sea. And it is worthy of remark, 
that wherever we find a country accurately described, 
with its fossils, strata, and other branches of its natu- 
ral history, we find abundant indications of the ancient 
m< lam orphosis of our planet ; and convincing testimo- 
ny that the present world was treated on the- mim $f 
en old on?* 



Doct. Morse informs us, that the whole State, to the 
distance of eighty miles from the sea, is level, and al- 
most without a stone. That in this distance, by a 
gradual ascent from the sea coast, the land rises one* 
hundred and ninety feet. That here, if you proceed 
in a W. N. W. course from Charleston, commences * 
curiously uneven country. The traveller being con* 
stan tly ascending and descending little sand hills, which 
nature seems to have disunited in a frolick. That if a 
pretty high sea were suddenly arrested, and transform- 
ed into sand hills, in the very form that the waves ex- 
isted at the moment of transformation : it would pre- 
sent to the eye just such a view as is here to be seen. 
Some little herbage and a few small pines grow even on 
this soil. ...This curious cointry continues for about sixtjr 
miles, till you arrive at a place called the ridge one 
hundred and forty miles from Charleston. The Ridge 
is a remarkable tract of high ground as you approach 
it from the sea, but level as you advance northward 
from its summit. It is a fine, high, healthy belt of 
land, extending from the Savannah to Broad river.— ^ 
Beyond this ridge commences a country exactly re- 
sembling the northern States. 

Here hilrs and dales wkh all their verdure and vari- 
egated beauty, present themselves to the eye. This 
is called the upper country. The land still rises by a= 
gradual ascent, each succeeding hill overlooks that 
which immediately precedes it ; till having advanced 
220 miles, in a northwest direction from Charleston* 
the elevation of the land above the sea coast, is found 
by actual mensuration to be 800 feet. Here commen- 
ces a mount ianous country, which continues rising to 
the western termination of this state. 

|C7* In contemplating the object before us, I am 
almost led to fancy the whole surface of this country as 
having been reduced to its present form and appear- 
ance by the access and recess of several tremendou* 
tides. That some of the larger segments of a broken 



and convulsed world pressed together with irresistabfre 
violence, first formed the higher mountains, which 
served as a barrier to those on the sea-board side, 
whose height gradually decreases as they advance to- 
wards the shore. That the smaller fragments subsi- 
ding were run over by the waters, and left to form 
those beautiful hills that display their verdure between 
the mountains and the ridges. And that the Ridge 
formed another barrier, below which the lacerating 
surges of the ebb tide formed those undulated sand 
hills : and that the level country thence to the sea, re- 
ceived anew surface of considerable depth from the re- 
sidue of earth still floating in those turbid waters : 
which being regularly deposited from the mountains 
downwards, in gradual diminution, formed the gentle 
descent of 190 feet in the first 80 miles. The idea, 
however, of this formation of the mountains may be 
but the mere illusions of fancy. 

But, be that as it may, we can hardly entertain a 
doubt, but that the undulated sand hills received their 
form from the motions of the water. Such a vast tide or 
moving spheriod of water.as we are to believe competent 
to drown the world, must have been accelerated, by 
a most impetuous current, it could not otherwise be 
elevated, in about five hours and three quarters to an 
adequate height, nor complete its ebb in so short a 
time. And we have good reasons for supposing a vio- 
lent gale from the eastern board at the same time (the 
cause of which will be hereafter explained) and, that 
the meeting of the wind and tide, produced what our 
seamen call a chopping sea (which always happens in 
like cases). We may then suppose the tide ebbed a- 
way so rapidly, that when a surge had formed one sand 
hill the succeeding surge could not reach it, but stop- 
ping short, formed another just below ; and that the 
whole of these curious sand hills were thus formed 
successively by the violent surges of the retreating 
waters. 



4$ 

TOSSIL TREE, AND ENORMOB9 SKULL, 

New discoveries are constantly made, in the foss*} 
deposites, by those whose business and profession, 
leads them to dig into the bowels of the earth. In 
Ociober 1306, a gentleman who owned a salt-works 
about ten miies from Russelville, in the state of Ken- 
tucky, in sinking a well, for the purpose of procuring 
saltwater, at 37 feet below the surface came upon a 
Sycamore* which was three feet in diameter. At the 
depth of 41 feet they dug up the skull of some- large 
animal, which weighed 240 pounds ; it had but five 
tf Hh remaining : the eye hole was so large that a man 
of ordinary size crept through it. 

JCP The skull was, no doubt, the skull of a mam- 
moth, or some ot her antediluvian animal, for- the pre- 
sent dynasty of animal nature presents us with no ani- 
mal of so monstrous a size. 

FOSSIL FROGS. 

Trogs are frequently dug up at considerable depths, 
in the ground, which are generally supposed to have ar- 
rived at the spot, through some subterraneous water 
exxurae ; and this doubtless, may sometimes he the 
case, But the most remarkable discovery of this kind 
happened at Burlington, in the state of Vermont- in 
the ye^r 1783. A Large number of frogs in a torpid 
state, were discovered twenty-five feet below the sur- 
face ; the earth was so compact that no possible way 
appeared by which they could come there, but from 
rdl appearances they must have been covered by the 
tviums of the Onion river, at some very remote pe- 
riod, perhaps, at the epoch when the waters of the de- 
luge subsided. They must at any rate, be supposed 
to have lain forages, and probably for centuries. Be- 



* The tree called Sycamore in the southern states, 
is the same that to the northward is called Euttofi- 
wood. 



m 



£ng exposed to the air, they soon recovered life and mo* 
tion ; but, unable to bear the sudden transition, they 
presently perished under the warm influences of th* 
sun* 

* MADREPORES AND MA RLE Si 

* " On the Isle of France (Mauritius) in the Indian 
Ocean, are great beds of Madrepores of the height of 
seven or eight feet, resembling ramparts, which have 
been torn up from the bottom of the sea, as is conjec- 
tured, by the violent currents which agitated the seas 
at the time of the deluge, and carried upon the land 
and left quite dry, more thai* three hundred paces 
from the shore .~J K fote. This marine production is, 
a stony substance that grows at the bottom of the sea, 
under the ecliptic. 

* " There have been found on the steep strand of 
the district of Cam;, some of the shells peculiar to the 
Antilles Islands, particularly a very large one called 
the Thuilee.- In the vicinity of Lyons, that which 
they call the cock and hen which is caught alive in no 
sea whatever, but the straits of Magellan. The jaws 
and teeth of the shark have been dug' out of the sandsr 
of Eta rapes. The quarries of France are filled with 
the spoils of the southern ocean. If we may believe 
the memoirs of father Le Gompte, the Jesuit, there 
is in China, strata of vegetable earth from three to four 
hundred feet deep. It is well known that Pit-coal 
owes its origin to forests that have been buried in the 
bowels of the earth. 

* " It is incontrovertible that marbles and calcare* 
dus stones, which are only madrepores and shells a- 
malgamated. That flints, which are concretions of 
these- — That marles, which are a dissolution of them, 
and that all marine bodies which are found in every 

* M. de St. Pierre, Vind. Div. Proy. page 32 and 
107. 



m 

part o? both continents, have issued out of the sea^— •» 
These matters serve as a basis to great part of Eu- 
rope. Hills of considerable height are composed of 
them, and they are found in many parts both of the 
old world and new at an equal degree of elevation." 

PETRIFIED OYSTERS IN EOYPT. 

The plain, on which the two largest pyramids of 
Egypt stand, is a continued rock of great extent, al- 
most covered with a moving sand, in which are great 
numbers of shells and petrified oysters : which is the 
more surprising -as-the Nile never rises high enough to 
•verflow the plain ; and indeed if it did so, there are 
bo shell fish in that river. 

Sea shells have been discovered in considerable 
^uantitiesr in the Mississippi territory. The excur- 
sions of the sea, are, indeed, visible in every section 
ixf the earth. 

Mr. Bufibn was of opinion^ that all the fossil shells 
found on land were generated in the spots they now 
occupy, before the earth became" habitable, and that 
the whole earth at that time was covered with water. 
But multitudes of shells are found in situations by far 
too much elevated to admit of his position, for if the 
waters of the ocean were increased to double their 
quantity they could not reach them. And we are to 
suppose the quantity of water belonging to our planet 
to be forever the same : and we can conceive of no pos- 



\ That marles, marbles and calcareous stones are 
composed of marine productions is admitted, yet we 
cannot admit that they issued out of the sea, at the 
time of the flood, but rather conjecture that the sub- 
stances which compose them originated in chaos, 
while the earth was yet uninhabitable : their situa- 
tions, quantities and amalgamations all combine to re- 
i\.r them to an higher antinuity than the deluge, un- 
less we are to conceive a deluge prior to the one of 
which wc are treating. 



m 

sible means how er where all that surplusage (if it ev* 
er existed) has been disposed of. W e must therefore 
reject the hypothesis. 

Mr. Goldsmith rejected this notion of Buffon, and 
supplied its place by one of his own, even more ro- 
mantic ; for he has supposed these shell fish well 
inown to be peculiar to salt water* to have been genera* 
ifcdin fresh water lakes. 

CHAPTER IX* 

Conjectures on the physical cause of the Deluge* 

IN contemplating this astonishing event, we find 
abundant cause to conjecture that the old-world 'was 
destroyed by a comet ; and that the present may pro- 
bably, at some future period, be destroyed by the same 
means : for we know of no other agent in nature so 
well adapted to the purpose. Yet we can neither attri- 
bute this catastrophe to a fortuitous event ; nor to di- 
vine vengeance : For we can neither conceive it com- 
patible with infinite wisdom to subject so important an 
event to chance : nor to execute his work in such an 
imperfect manner as to repent of it afterwards, and be 
grieved at the heart. But must believe the perfections of 
God are such that he is incapable of making a blunder, 
and insusceptible of repentance and grief. And be- 
sides, it appears, at least doubtful, if he ever punish- 
es wickedness in this life. But we find ourselves rath- 
er impelled. to believe, that He who created the uni- 
versal system of nature, and ordained the motions of 
all its parts, calculated with unerring precision all the 
various changes that the earth should sustain, and the 
exact period of every dynasty or race of creatures, 
which he should place upon it. And so contrived the 
business that the earth shguld be out of harms way at 



: - - • " ** 

the approach of a eemet, at all times, until the period 
6f its great catastrophe should arrive, and then be- in 
that point of its orbit where inevitable destruction 
should await it. 

For the better elucidation of our subject, it may be 
expedient to sketch out in this place, the general doc- 
trine of Comets, which is this " That they are solid 
Compact bodies, like othei planets, and regulated by the 
same laws of gravity, so as to describe equal areas in 
proportionable times, by radii drawn from the common 
centre. That they move about the sun in very eccen- 
tric ellipsis, and are of much greater density than the 
earth, for some of them are heated in every period, ta 
such a degree as would vitrify any substance known to 
us. 

Sir Isaac Newton computed the heat of the comet 
which appeared in the year 1680 when nearest the sun, 
to be two thousand times hotter than red hot iron ; and 
that being thus heated, it would retain its heat until it 
came round again, although its period should be more 
than twenty thousand years, and it was computed to be 
only five hundred and seventy*five. 

It is believed that there are twenty-one comets be- 
longing to our system, moving from west to east, from 
east to west, from south to north, from horth to south, 
and indeed in all manner of directions : and passing 
with astonishing celerity through the orbits of the plan- 
ets without any sensible resistance and without any 
sensible effects, unless it be at certain determinate pe- 
riods, when, in conformity to the established laws of 
nature, they may approach so near the pLnets tts to pro- 
duce an universal convulsion, to cany into effect the 
important and systematic designs of the Almighty. 

Our earth was out of its way when this comet last, 
passed its orbit ; but k requires a more perfect knowl- 
edge of the motions of comets, to be able to say, it al- 
ways has passed, or always will pass by, without produ- 
cing some very extraordinary effect. For it has bec<V 

E 



observed by some of our most celebrated astronomers, 

that this comely in cnt part ©fits orbit, approaches ye* 
rynear tiie orbit oi ihe earth, so that, in some of. it$ 
re volutions it may approach near enough to have ye ry^ 
considerable, if not fatal effects upon it. 

And, from the great quantities of fossil shells, bones, 
teeth, trees and other extraneous fossils, discovered. 
In the bowels of the earth, and in every section of it,, 
-where digging for marie s, minerals Sec. is much prac- 
tised, which cannot be accounted for on any other 
principles. We arc authorised to conclude, that the 
same or some other comet, has, at some ancient peri- 
od, produced those fatal effects : completed the ca~ 
tastrophe of the old world, destroyed ali its inhabitants, 
and made way for a new creation, which took place, 
probably, about six thousand years ago. 

But still it may remain a doubt, with those who hard 
never paid particular attention to studies of this nature, 
whether a comet is capable of producing the effects ,w$ 
ascribe to it, or not, be its proximity what it may. 
For their information, it may be proper in this place 
to intimate, that this is one' of those problems wincb 
are to be solved only by tracing the effects up to the, 
cause. And this, is indeed, in many momentous dis- 
quisitions the only mode of reasoning that falls within 
our power. .We h^ve, for instance, no line of ratio- 
cination whatsoever, more eligible than this when we, 4 
attempt to demonstrate either the existence or the,, 
providence of a God. We first premise this axiom, 
or something similar, i That signs of intelligence in the. 
work, firove intelligence in the workman* And then,, 
if upon examining the works of creation and provi- 
dence,, Ave find in them the evidences of know ledge, 
wisdom, contrivance, understanding and other traits of 
intelligence, we sre impelled by the faculties of - our 
own mind, to acknowledge, that there does sorne- 
wfrere exist though to us invisible, a Supreme Intel- 
Jjtgen.ce, a God, who made and- governs the work., 



51 



in the case before us, when we perceive that prodigious 
convulsions in nature have taken place, we cast 
about to enquire for the agent that produced them, if 
we can discover no agent in the system capable of pro- 
ducing them but a comet, and that a comet is, in fact, 
endued with all the powers and properties requisite ; 
we are thence irresistibly led, by the energies of our 
own minds, to ascribe that catastrophe to the agency of 
a comet. 

To produce these effects a combination of powers 
appear to be necessary. (1.) The attractive innuenco 
of some celestial orb, other than the sun and moon, was 
necessary to the elevation of a spheriod of water equal 
to the occasion. (2.) It was necessary that the agent 
should posses the power of putting all the waters be- 
longing to the earth, in fusion. (3.) That the power 
of producing violent currents in both the ocean and 
the atmosphere, was necessary for the completion ct 
the awful drama. And while we perceive all these 
powers concentrated in a comet ; and can discover no 
other agent in nature, in which they all unite, wc arc 
thence led to ascribe the universal deluge to the I'rency 
of a comet. All these causes and effects result From 
heat and attraction ; and that a comet possesses both 
these properties in a competent degree, we presume 
wiii not be denied. 

Let us then suppose a comet possessing a degree of 
heat two thousand times hotter than red hot iron, has 
approached near the earth, in a north and south direc- 
tion, (for such are the laws of nature, that comets hass 
in every direction) leading over the poles of the earth 
so as to dissolve the ices attached to the polar regions : 
and then let us take a view of the consequences which 
may naturally result. 

1. Most violent winds, tornados, hurricanes, would 
result from the extraordinary rarefaction of the air 

2. Those immense bodies of ice and snow which 
had been accumulating on the higher mountains and 



about the poles of the earth fi;om the beginning of time 
-would be rapidly dissolved. The effusions would be 
exceedingly great ; and immediately form themselves 
5nto impetuous currents, which would press downward 
to form their level under the equator ; but being fre- 
quently obstructed, and their courses altered by shores 
said islands, and sometimes interrupted by clashing a- 
gainst each other, would, when they reached the ocean 
pursue different directions, and by their great impet- 
uosity, tear from their beds, and carry along with them 
the siiell-iish, madrepores, corals, and other marine 
productions which lay in their respective routes, some 
ol which they would necessarily throw upon the shore. 
And the sea by this new accession of waters would be 
r.o far augmented, as, abstract from any other cause, 
to overflow the lower countries on every section of the 
earth. 

3, The attractive and repressive powers of the corn- 
el, in this stage of its proximity, added to those of the 
s-un and moon, would have had powerful effects on the 
watery regions j have roused the ocean from its deep- 
est recesses, and have produced prodigious tides, com- 
petent, no doubt, to overwhelm the whole earth. 

Such extraordinary tides, both in their afliux and re- 
ilux, must necessarily have been extremely rapid, oth- 
erwise they could not rise and iali to those stupendous 
heights and depths within less than six hours, l or we 
are not to suppose the laws of nature dispensed with 
but as the earth still pursued its diurnal revolutions;, 
the same length of time as usual in common tides, 
must still have been observed, in both the access and 
recess. Besides we must suppose the motion of the 
tides to have been much accelerated to the westward* 
by the violent winds already in motion ; and, that the 
currents formed by the tides, combined in various in- 
stances, with the other currents now in operation, and 
$}i propelled by a tempestuous sea, the billows of which 
would lacerate the earth with indescribable fury, da»te 



over the summits of the most elevated mountains ; and 
in all their excursions, have carried with them and de- 
posited on their way, the spoils of the ocean ; in some 
places less and others more : and mingling with their 
waters the sand and the soil, deposit these likewise 
in their retreat ; and ultimately leave the several re- 
gions of the earth in the very same condition as we finxl 
them at the present day. 

These are the effects which have, by some means, at 
some remote period, been produced. These are the 
effects which a comet under given circumstances is ca- 
pable of producing. We must therefore, for the pre- 
sent, and until some other agent capable of producing 
the like effects shall be discovered, attribute this tre- 
mendous catastrophe to the agency of a comet. 

We cannot but conjecture also, at this eventful pe- 
riod, a general convulsion of nature. That the heat of 
the comet extending to the mountains, would agitate 
the subterraneous fires into action : give a spring to 
the electricity contained in the bowels of the earth : 
cause the confined air to expand and produce new erup- 
tions. That volcanos and earthquakes would increase 
the horrors of the scene. That the united force of all 
these terrific phenomena would produce convulsions 
indescribable, which might shake the earth to its cen- 
tre ; and dissever it perhaps into various segments, for- 
ming vast chasms and excavations, which to say no- 
thing of the grottos so frequently to be met with, 
would afterwards become mediterranean seas, straits, 
gulfs, lakes, and beds of rivers. And at the same 
time disorganize every animated being that trod the 
earth ; while not the fowls of the air, nor many of the 
inhabitants of the sea could escape the all-desolating 
tempest. 

But while we contemplate the progress of nature m 
these extraordinary events, we are to take care that 
imagination does not steal a march upon reason : Wf 
must still keep an eye on nature's Lw. 1 cr alUiouj^i 



■if -4 



we may now suppose all that is terrible in nature to be 
in agitation, Vve are hot to conceive her general laws 
as being abrogated. We are to conceive a huge sphe- 
riod of water elevated by the cornet arid pointing to- 
wards it, which by the revolutions of the earth on its 
own axis, was carried round the world in about twen- 
ty-four hours, while on the opposite side at the same 
time by a wise adaptation of providence to keep up an 
equilibrium, a similar column of water performed the 
same circuit, by which means two tides, as m ordinary 
cases, would pass upon every meridian in the course 
of a day. If then the comet continued thus near the 
earth but two days, four such tides would have happen- 
ed : which being admitted, fully accounts for the eight 
layers of different kinds described in York river^ as 
mentioned in Chapt. Vlt 

We cannot suppose that the tides were elevated to 
those amazing heights in a moment, but that a regu- 
lar augmentation and diminution of them took place 
for several days successively, in their access and re- 
cess. 

Much of the weight and force of this vast body of 
Water, must, as we may rationally conjecture, have 
been lost in running over a continent, so that the inte- 
rior would suffer much less than sea-board side of the 
mountains. 

It is hardly necessary to remark, that these inunda- 
tions of the sea though of short continuance, would 
have destroyed, as effectually, every terrestrial animal, 
as could have done a flood effected by rain, by standing 
over the tops of the mountains one hundred and fifty 
days. And all this we apprehend may have been done 
without violating a single law of nature,, which, in the 
other case, could not. 

The great accession of waters which the ocean pro- 
bably received from the fusion of the polar ices be- 
fore intimated, so far exceeds common opinion that 
it seems to merit further attention. The hardy navi- 



55 

gators who have traversed the northern seas inquest 
of northeast and northwest passages, to China and the 
Indies, have transmitted some idea of it. They uni- 
formly assert that there is a strong current amidst the 
ices of these seas that sets to the South. This cur- 
rent, no doubt, must be caused by the fusion of the 
ices about the pole : which ices though they have been 
annually augmenting from the beginning of time> 
have nevertheless suffered a partial dissolution every 
summer. 

Frederick Martins, who in his voyage to Spitzbergen 
in the year 1671, advanced to the 81st degree of N. 
latitude, is positive in regard to this southerly current. 
Henry Ellis in his voyage toHudsonsbay in 1746 and 
1747, asserts the same, and adds, that the current was 
accelerated in proportion as the latitudes increased.— 
And that at Wagers point they run at the rate of 8 or ten 
leagues an hour : he compares it to the sluice of a mill. 
John Huguez de Linschotten, made nearly the same 
remarks when he was at Waigats strait, in 70 deg. 
20 min. north latitude in 1594, and 1595. William 
Barnets remarked in the same year a similar current 
on the north east coast of Nova Zembla, setting in 
from the east, whose rapidity he compares to the 
sluice of a mill, and observed that some of the floating 
islands of ice were 36 fathom deep under water, and 
16 fathoms high above water, at Waigats strait in the 
months of July a?id August. 

That these currents and floating islands of ice, were 
all produced by the fusion and disseveration of the po- 
lar ices, no one can doubt. Ellis found the tides rise 
25 feet at Hudson's Bay. Chevalier Narbrough 
found they rose 20 feet at Magellan's strait. These 
higher tides in the higher latitudes undoubtedly owe 
their extra elevation to the fusion of the polar ices. 

The ices which descend every summer from the 
north upon the great bank of Newfoundland, it is said, 
may be seen at the distance of from 1 5 to 1 8 league^ 



M f ; : , • ^ . ,* ../ . 

and their cold on ship-board be felt as far. They are- 
sometimes in such numbers, being carried forward by 
the same wind, that there have been vessels making 
towards the land to fish, whfch fell in with some of 
them in a series of 150 leagues in length, and up- 
wards ; which coasted along by them for a day or two, 
the night included, with a fresh breeze and every sail 
set, without being able to reach the extremity. In this 
manner they kept under way, looking for an opening 
through which the vessel might pass, if they found 
one they passed it as through a strait, otherwise they 
must go on till th«y have out-sailed the whole chain, 
in order to make good their passage, for the way is 
throughout blocked up with ice. These ices do not 
melt till they meet the warm waters toward the south, 
or are forced by the wind on the land side. Some of 
them run aground in from 25 to SO fathom water. — 
The fishermen assert that they have seen some of them 
aground in 45 fathom water, which were at least ten 
leagues round, they must have been of a great height. 
Ships avoid these ices lest they should overturn as they 
dissolve most on the side exposed to the greatest heftt. 
Floating islands and vast fields of ice, were encountered 
by several vessels in their passages between the United 
States and Britain, in the Spring of 1805, Among 
which, the most remarkable that we recollect were 
these, viz. April 2 2d, the ship Sally bound from Bos- 
ton to Liverpool was bilged and sunk by the ice : the 
captain, second mate and four of the crew saved in the 
boat : The chief mate and seven of the crew went 
down with the ship. Ship Oliver Ellsworth, captain 
Barnet, from Liverpool for New-York, April 7 and 8, 
passing through continents of ice and huge islands, was 
greatly embarrassed and chafed, but escaped and bcre 
away to the West Indies. 

These polar ices, of which our seamen see but the 
borders and scraps, must have in their centre an ele- 
vation proportioned to their extent^ which may be m 





winter two thousand leagues in diameter. The fusion 
of these ices added to the fusion of those vrhich covet 
all the most elevated mountains on the earth, would 
no doubt, when all were poured into the sea at once,, 
elevate the waters very considerably. 

A late writer who has supposed that the whole 
earth has been overwhelmed by the sea, has conjectu- 
red that it was effected, wholly by the fusion of these 
ices, and that this fusion was caused by the sun, which 
he has Imagined did pass at that time from south to 
north over the poles of the earth. But here let us 

Remark I. Though the dissolution of all the ices 
-on the globe, must undoubtedly augment the waters 
of the sea very considerably, we cannot rationally con- 
ceive the augmentation by any means equal to the in- 
\mdation of the whole earth, for this accession of wa- 
ters could bear but a small proportion to the waters now 
in the cceam and being spread over such a prodigious 
surface could by no means extend to the tops of the 
mountains^ and higher lands. 

Remark 2. l ; or the earth to be whirled round so as: 
to make the poles occupy the place of the e.uator and 
pass directly under tue sun, the interposition of al- 
mighty power is manifestly requisite : and the same 
i ria lipotence is likewise requisite to wheel it back to 
its proper position. But for my own part I can see n© 
IH eel of a miraculous interposition in the case. If we 
cm assign a natural cause lor the fusion of the ices, 
and the elevation of the ocean to a competent pitch for 
producing all the appearances that present themselves 
tc our view, we certainly ought to doit: For we do 
know positively, that the Deity in all the ordinary cour- 
ses of events, works altogether by secondary causes. — 
But we do not know, nor have we any means whereby 
we may know, that he overworks by immediate inter- 
position. Mankind, through the imbecility of their 
understandings and powers of perception, have been 
often induced to ascribe te miraculous interposition 



58 



many of the phenomena of nature, the physical causes 
©f which have been since developed. 

Seeing them, that the extent of natural causes is in 
a progressive state of developement, & do certainly exr 
ceed our powers of comprehension, we ought to be 
rather diffident in ascribing any appearance to the im- 
mediate act of omnipotence, till we are well assured it 
could not result from a natural cause. Much less 
' ought we to ascribe any phenomenon to miracle, which 
appears to be within the possibility of natural causes^ 
though we may not be able to point out in particular x 
w,hat the natural cause is. 

In ascribing the deluge to the agency of a comet, w® 
do ascribe it to a natural cause; and, having proved, 
that a comet possesses all the powers requisite to pro- 
duce the event in an ordinary course and without vioia* 
ting the laws of nature, shall rest it here as on an immo* 
vable basis. 

CHAPTER X. 

The Earth before the Deluge was a habitable Way hl f - 
and most likely, inhabited. 

WHEN we discover a country that produces veget- 
ables in plenty and variety, we, without hesitation pro- 
nounce it a habitable country, because we find it, a- 
bounds with aliments proper to the support of animal 
nature. Now, fossil trees have been discovered in ev- 
ery country where much digging has been practised ; 
^tnd in the banks of rivers likewise, where the soil has 
been removed from them by the attrition of running 
waters. These have been discovered at very consider- 
ble depths in digging for minerals, and sometimes 
found deposited under quarries of marble, and enclosed 
hi the body of rocks, There can be no doubt but these 



59 



Jbssil trees once grew on the earth * and where tree* 

grow we know that other vegetable substances grow 
3&>ev£is*:. The situations in which they are found a£* 
fords incontestable proof that they were deposited [ there 
by the. delude. . The result is* that the earth was h-fc^ 
kable before the deluge. 

A further e vidence in support of our position is Pit- 
•pal. . It has been discovered by chemical experiment!, 
that native coals of every kind have originated from ve- 
getable substances. These abound in every region of 
the earth: their quantities are immense, and previous 
to their formation there must have been an immensity 
®f forests. Native coals are to bs considered as the 
spoils, of the old world amalgamated with earth. Ve- 
getable substances crowded together in superb heaps 
by the violently agitated waters of the deluge, and bu- 
ried under the soil, could hardly fail of falling into a 
high stale of fermentation, which would produce a de- 
gree of heat sufficient to reduce them into their pres- 
ent state, still retaining like artificial charcoal a certain 
portion of their igniferous properties. 

If we are correct as to the origin of pit-coal, it can- 
not be denied, that the e&rth was habitable before the 
deluge. The only objection that we can conceive, is 
this, that it is rather likely, that the coals may have 
originated prior to a prior world. 

The enormous moose horns and pine trees frequent- 
ly dug up in Ireland from a great depth, are, as we 
conceive, to be added to the catalogue of fossils of the 
antediluvian ages. This we are induced to conjecture, 
because none of these animals or trees are now to be 
founcj'inthat island, and it is doubtful, if ever they 
have been since the flood. The long preservation of 
these, as well as of other fossils, is to be attributed to 
the close pressure of the earth, which defended them 
from the corrosive contact of the air. 

MAMMOTH. 

How singular soever it may appear, I cannot but con-, 



m 

aider this huge quadruped &s having be eii an inhabit- 
ant of the old world ; and that the whole race of them 
were destroyed by the deluge. Their bones, which 
have been found in the United States, in Chili, and in 
Tartary, witness that they were natives of the tempe- 
sate climates, and also that they have been numerous ; 
and, from their bones being found in a fossil state, we 
cannot but conjecture that they perished in the flood. 
We are fully persuaded th« race is extinct ; for so nu- 
Hierous and persevering have been the voyages of dis- 
covery by sea and land* in the course of the 18th cen- 
tury, that had any such animal been in existence, it 
doubtless would have been discovered ; and the discov- 
ery would have been published immediately, for the 
discoverer would have considered the publication of it 
as a feather in his cap. The position in which the bones 
are generally found, which is from 6 to 12 feet below 
the surface, convince us that they were buried by the 
deluge s for we cannot attribute it to any other possible 
means. 

The first of these bones discovered in the United 
States, were found at a salt spring near the Ohio river i 
since which, they have been found at several other pla- 
ces. " A Mr. Stanley who was taken prisoner some 
years ago near the mouth of the Tennessee, relates that 
after being transferred through several tribes of Indians 
he was at length carried over the mountains west of 
the Missouri to a river which runs westerly, and that 
these bones abounded there."* 

These fossil bones have been frequently found on 
the North Holston, a branch of the Tennessee, in 
Campbell's salines, southwest part of Virginia. They 
are discovered in digging wells to get salt water ; which 
they dig from six to ten feet deep, at which depth, 
they come to a brittle lime-stone rock, through the 
chasms of which the salt water issues up. 



* Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. 



tri September A. p. i860, a skeleton of one of these 
fiuge animals was found about 13 miles to the west 
of Newburg in the state of New- York, by a man who 
was digging for marie, on a low piece of ground, and 
about ten or twelve feet from the surface. Some of 
the bones were procured, but the waters rushed in so 
violently that the whole could not be had. Several of 
the bones of the hind leg were dug out, which are more 
than four feet in length, and measured round the joints 
more than forty inches in circumference, and on the 
stolid bone thirty-six. The orifice of the back bone, 
occasioned by the decay of marrow, is more than three 
inches in diameter, the upper teeth perfectly sound and 
white, are seven inches in length, and four broad. It 
is thought by men of the first information, the animal: 
must have been, when alive, from fifteen to twenty feet 
in height. This is the seventh or eighth skeleton al- 
ready discovered within the vicinity of eight miles from, 
a common centre, within a few years. 

"Philadelphia, October 18, 1802.— Mr. Peale, 
keeper of the Museum in this city has been furnished 
with two complete skeletons of the Mammoth, dug up 
near Newburg in the state of New-York****The skel- 
eton, with which it is Mr. Rembrandt Peale's intention 
to visit Europe, was yesterday so far put together, that 
previously to the taking it to pieces for the purpose of 
packing up, he and twelve other gentlemen, partook 
of a collation, within the breast of the animal, all com- 
fortably seated round a small table, and one of Mr. 
Hawkins's patent portable pianos : after which several 
toasts were drank accompanied with music. 

LARGE FOSSIL BONES. 

Some few years ago, at Long Branch in the county 
of Monmouth in the state of New-Jersey, the banks of* 
the Atlantic being greatly torn by an unusual rise of the 
sea in a violent storm, there was discovered in those 
banks the skeleton of some huge carniverous animal, 
the country people, actuated more by wonder than cu* 
F 



62 



tiosity, suffered it to be destroyed, except a jaw tooth 
which was about 2i inches wide, 5 long and as many 
deep. One rib was seven feet four inches long, and 
another four feet. The bones of another of these an- 
imals was discovered in a meadow, in the county of 
Gloucester, near the Delaware river, by a negro who 
was digging a ditch three or four feet deep in the 
ground. It is impossible however, from the scantiness 
of the data, to determine to what class these animals 
belonged. 

Teeth. il Some few years ago, two great grinding 
teeth and part of a tusk, of an Elephant, were discov- 
ered at the depth of forty-two yards, in a lead mine in 
•Flintshire;"* 

Which is the greatest wonder, it is hard to say— 
How the elephants teeth should find their way into 
Wales ; or, being there, how they should get 126 feet 
below the surface. We can but conjecture that they 
must have been brought from India or Africa by the 
deluge, and deposited in a chasm of the rocks, which 
^vas subsequently filled up. 

: The rocks and stones, as well as the bowels of the 
earth, in every vicinity where they are examined, ex- 
hibit evidences of an obselete world : our own neigh- 
borhood is not destitute of them. The shells of river 
clams and muscles, are sometimes found enclosed in 
solid stones on the borders of the Susquehanna river ; 
not only near the bank, but in stone quarries at a good 
distance from it, and on ground highly elevated. In 
some of these the shells are found entire : in others a 
fair impression only remains, the substance being con- 
sumed. 

DISCOVERIES IN WTLKESBARRE* 
Having been informed by a gentleman ss hose curio- 
sity had previously led him to the enquiry, that the 
stones and rocks along the bank of the Susquehanna 



* Pennants Synopsis 



exhibited many petrifactions, and impressions of ex- 
traneous vegetable matter. I went out in company 
with him June 6, 1806, to examine them, and the re- 
sult was as follows : 

We broke many stones which had chiefly a smooth 
tind hard surface, with a flint-like appearance and an 
irregular globular form, we found within some of them 
the external shucks of hickory-nuts of different varie- 
ties ; in some the shucks and shells of black-walnuts ; 
intermixed with them were many cherry-stones, and 
some wild-peas. Some of the stones were internally 
composed of a jumbled mixture of such like matter ; 
some contained beach-nuts, and other vegetable pro- 
ductions of a kind that we could not name. AH these 
M ere in a petrified state. We also found a bunch cf 
petrified scouring-rushes partly enclosed in a blue flint. 

In one stone we found part of the under jaw bone of 
some animal about the size of a mink; the loose lec- 
ture within of a reddish hue, the out side of a dirty 
white. One stone enclosed a piece of charcoal, of i- 
bout two inches long and three quarters of an inch in 
diameter : this remained in its natural slate ; h was 
tender ; *I scraped it out with my fin rer nail W e cf$5- 
covered in these stones many holes and excavations of 
different sizes, which appeared to have been formed by 
the broken twigs of trees, which probably were too far 
decayed to be capable of petrifaction at the time : and 
now but a verv small part of their stamana remained. 
A CURIOUS ROCK. 

In the bank of the river, about ah hundred porches 
above the borough, there is a rock of blue slate of a- 
bout ten perches in length, descending inio the water, 
but how fur we could not ascertain ; ard reclining from 
the river in an angle of about forty-five degrees ascent, 
to the perpendicular height of about ten feet, which h 
about half the elevation of the whole bank. This rock 
is composed entirely of thin layers of blue slate, frorh 
about a quarter to three quarters of an inch in thick* 



ness ; a great many of which layers are already separa- 
ted, and the others in general are easily separable 

In this rock are discovered no petrifactions ; b 
here we find thousands and thousands of elegant pri 
of vegetable substances : it is rather difficult to find 
small piece among all these plates, but what exhibit 
more or less of the kind. These impressions appear, 
in all their parts and lineaments as fair and natural to 
the naked eye, as the leaves and plants would have 
done in their natural state, but no portion of the veget- 
ables themselves could be discerned. The impres- 
sions were mostly of the fern genus ; different kinds of 
brakes and poly pods, but mostly American maidenhair : 
among them was one fair impression of a laurel leaf; 
one of a large leaf of ragwort (rag weed) several of 
the blares of grass and other plants with which I am 
ijnacq.uairs.ted. 

When we reflect on the above described phenomena, 
the mind is immediately led to enquire into the cause, 
the manner and the time of their conformation. The 
stones form part of a gravelly bank of gentle ascent a- 
bout halfway between the high and low water marks 
of the river, in the upper part of the borough ; which 
from present appearances, and the known attrition of 
every high .swell of the waters on those banks, Were., 
probably, not many years since covered with a bank of 
earth, to the heigth of ten feet. We are therefore to 
conclude that these stones were not recently formed, 
but assumed their present appearances at some very 
ancient period ; and that these as well as the rock of 
slate have occupied their present ground, from the 
first formation of the bed of the river and circumjacent 
country, which must have been at a period so remote, 
that the world could not furnish an human eye to be- 
hold it. 

But, whether these observations are correct or not, 
yet the facts fully prove, that vegetable matter existed, 
m did also animals, prior t® the formation of the rocks 



65 



and stones with which they are either imprinted or com- 
bined, by petrifaction. That these rocks and stones 
were formed prior to the commencement of the present 
dynasty of human kind there can be little room for a 
doubt. But they were certainly formed after the world 
had been habitable : and, from some of the facts men- 
tioned, we are led to believe it actually had been in- 
habited ; we are therefore to consider their formation 
to have taken place not long after the epoch of the de- 
luge, at which eventful period the old world had been 
demolished and a new order of things commenced. 

When we reflect on the subject, and consider how 
little is known of the interior of rocks, and yet, that 
among the few that have been examined, have been 
discovered in good preservation, many of the more du- 
rable parts of animals, as well as the prints and petri- 
factions of vegetables, we are thence warranted to con- 
jecture, that there are many destined to similar pres- 
ervations, which never have and never will come to 
our knowledge, and very probably, among other things, 
whether they shall be discovered or not, the parts and 
skeletons of the men of the old world. 

Doct. Plot, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, 
has stated, " That near New-Castle under Lyne, there 
was found a stone with a mans skull, teeth and all en- 
closed in it."* 

We mention this rather as a remarkable incident 
than as being applicable to the subject under consider- 
ation, for the account is so laconic as to afford no suf- 
ficient grounds, from which to make deductions. 

CHAPTER XI. 

7'he world, {irior to the deluge, was inhabited by men 
and other animals. 
HAVING shewn in the pr eceding chapter, from 
* Encyclopaedia under, Earth. 

F 2 



6ft 



various, details, recorded in natural history, the authen 
licity of which we have no reason to doubt, that the 
earth was habitable before the all desolating deluge 
took place,, we shall now from the same indubitable 
species of. evidence attempt to prove it actually 
inhabited. 

But as this proof must depend,, rather on deductions 
from facts, than, on facts themselves, we shall content 
ourselves with denominating the result, a well foiu> 
ded conjecture, rather, than a positive proof. 

There are ; in several parts of the world, ancient 
ivorks of different kinds which we cannot hesitate to 
pronounce the work, s of men, if then we can demon- 
strate that these works, or any of them were accom? 
plished^ before the Hood, we shall then consider our pa* 
sition well substantiated. And, if in these works we 
find bonc^of the human kind it will thence become 
incontrovertablci 

Let us then begin with the remains of ancient fortH 
fica.tionsr to be met with in the United States. These* 
it must be confessed, are of dubious origin : and r I am 
perhaps rather singular in refer ring,their construction 
to the antediluvian dynasty. They afford ample scope 
for conjecture, suspence and speculation. But as eve* 
ry man is entitled to his. own opinion, I must beg 
leave to advocate mine. 

These ancient fortifications are the most numerons 
in the fertile countries bordering on the Ohio, They 
are found as high up the Mississippi as lake .Pepin, 
and a& low down as the Floridas. There are several 
iiem the Susquehanna and its branches. They ap- 
pear, indeed, to have been erected in all the most fer- 
tile countries in the western parts of the United States. 
They are of very different areas from one rocd to an 
hundred acres. It is to be hoped, that a general descrip- 
tion of them may be entertaining whether my de- 
ductions, shall be well relished or not. 
' About 3 miles from the village of Athens,is to be seen 



the remains of an ancient fortification : it is on a high 
hill* at the foot of which, on the north side, runs- the 
diyiding line between Pennsylvania and New- York 
state ; and on the south side the Tioga branch. This 
hill or mountain is about equal in elevation to the 
neighboring mountains, perhaps from 300 to 400 feet. 
The form is nearly round, the declivities steep on all 
sides ; the top is flat and contains about three acres, 
near the middle is a spot of springy ground. Around 
the margin of the hill a ditch has been dug and a breast 
work thrown up,, the remains of which are still dis- 
cernabie- The treeson it are equal to those on the cir- 
cumjacent hills. 

On the Unidilla branch about 30 miles above its 
xno.uihis another old fort. The remains of the walls 
from three to four feet high, the area about one eighth 
of an acre- Many others were found near the Sus- 
quehanna, when the country was new,, but arc now 
mostly demolished. 

But it is on the. Ohio and its branches that these worts 
are mostly to be met with ; the origin of which has 
long. been a subject of disquisition among the curious ; 
none of whom, wc presume, have been able to form a 
probable conjecture on the subject without admitting 
their erection to have been antediluvian. These are 
always erected on high well chosen ground and contig- 
uous to water. At a convenient distance from these 
ruins always stands a mount of earth raised in form of 
a pyramid, and sometimes two of them ; from 1 5 to 20 
feet higli ; and of six or seven perches in diameter at 
the base- On examination these mounds have been 
found to contain a chalky substance, supposed to be 
bones, and of the human kind ; and it is positively as- 
serted that in some of them, bones have actually been 
found. 

By an. acquaintance of mine in whose veracity we 
may confide, and who a few days since returned from 
the state of Ohio I am informed that the public road 



68 

passes through one of these forts, which stands on ths 
bank of the Little Miami river in that state : the road 
he travelled goes through two of the gateways. He 
saw some parts of the wall which he should judge was 
fifteen feet high. He was afterwards informed that the 
height had been ascertained by actual mensuration, in 
various places, and was found to be from twelve to 
twenty-two feet. That he saw there two mounds 
which he should judge were fifteen feet high, and one 
in Chillicothe which was twenty feet high, these were 
in his opinion six or seven perches, in diameter ; and 
must of course have covered each, about a quarter- of 
an acre of ground. That, that part of the country was 
uncultivated and pretty heavy timbered : that the trees 
within^he walls, on them and without them, appeared 
as old as those of the neighboring country. He could 
see but part of the walls, for the woods obstructed his 
sight, but was informed that they included upwards of 
an hundred acres. The country was rich and level. 
He saw several other of the old forts in the course of 
his tour ; they were generally on flat ground ; he saw 
but one or two on hills ; he took particular notice that 
no appearance of ditches were to be seen near the walls 
or mounds, but the ground appeared as level as if it 
had never been broken ; except, that near one on the 
foot of a hill he discerned some spots that looked like 
the remains of a ditch. And he further stated, that the 
inhabitants assured him that pieces of bones had been 
found in those mounds. 

Doctor Cutler, who has accurately examined some 
of these ancient fortifications, thinks from appearan- 
ces, that the trees are of a second growth ; and, that 
the forts must have been built upwards of a thousand 
years ago. But why, let me ask, should we limit the 
trees to a second growth, and the erection of the forts 
to a thousand years ? The trees bear all the marks of 
antiquity, visible in the rest of the forest, and the walls 
those of the neighboring hillocks. Besides, the walls 



being in part domolished and the ditches filled up to 
the level of the surface, seem to indicate an alluvial 
disposition. 

These works witness the efforts of a people much 
more addicted to labour than the present race of Indi- 
ans, and we have no testimonials that their ancestor* 
were so. Besides, it is difficult to conceive how they 
could be constructed without iron tools, and these we 
must believe the aboriginals never had. These works 
then appear to have been executed by a people whose 
ideas and habits were extremely different from the In- 
dians. But, what people could these have been ? We 
know of none but the Indian natives, who ever inhab- 
ited this country, and the Indians themselves know of 
none. It nevertheless, appears highly probable, that 
at some ancient period, another people did inhabit it, 
who were, at least, in some degree civilized ; as like- 
wise numerous and hostile, and who have since been, 
exterminated. 

The result then seems to be, that the ancient for- 
tresses were the works of an antediluvian race ; that 
the waters of the deluge demolished these works i:» 
part, and swept off the occupants ; and that the chalky 
substances discovered in the mounds are the undissi- 
pated remains of some of the men of the old world. 
I would not however, be so sanguine in this particular, 
as to risk the proposition before us, altogether upon it ; 
but proceed to exhibit an account of a 

FOSSIL WALL. 

A remarkable wall was discovered in the state of 
North-Carolina, in the year 1795. The distance of it 
from Third Creek, a considerable stream in the neigh- 
bourhood of Salisbury, is about a quarter of a mjle ; 
from the South Yadkin river, about two and an half or 
three miles ; and from the Atlantic ocean not less than 
160 or 170. Its direction is nearly northwest and 
southeast. Since its discovery various attempts have 



m 

been made to ascertain its length, breadth and thick- 
ness, and the materials of which it is composed. 

" The top of the wall is at unequal distances below 
the surface of the earth, though it generally rises as 
the surface rises, and sinks as it sinks. A pit has been 
dug by the side of the wall to the depth of 27 feet, but 
ho appearance of its bottom yet. The thickness is uni- 
formly the same, that is two feet. Its length has not 
been ascertained, but from the place where the pit has 
been sunk the wall is known to extend more than one 
hundred feet down the hill, and parallel with a branch 
which runs near it. Above the pit it extends one hun- 
dred and fifty feet in a direct line ; it then forms a seg- 
ment of a circle for about fifteen feet, with but about 
six or seven feet out of its first direction. The face on 
ifcach side of the wall is smooth and even, but the stones 
are of an irregular size and shape ; the largest are near- 
ly the size of a brick, the smallest not larger than the 
end of a mans thumb : the large ones are all laid 
lengthwise across the wall, the small, of which there 
Me a great number are used to fill up the interstices 
between them. The texture of the stone is of a pecul- 
iar kind, and different from any in the neighborhood* 
except one quarry, which is at the distance of about 
half a mile ; the cement is of a Whitish Colour and ap- 
pears to contain much lime but when anaiized yields 
iron without any lime.** 

At the close of this narration, the writer makes the 
following remarks, " The discovery of this wall, which 
can scarcely be thought a natural production, seems to 
strengthen the opinion of those who believe that this 
western world, has once before, been inhabited by a 
civilized people ; or at least visited often er than histo- 
rians inform us of, prior to its authenticated discovery 
by Columbus." 

We may further remark, it cannot be deemed a 
work of nature ; but we must pronounce it to have been 
laid by the hand of an Architect, and probably to h&ve 



been an Ancient fortification, the undiscovered parts- of 
which may have been destroyed by the deluge, or be 
now standing below the present surface, buried in the 
sediment of those turbid waters. If these deductions 
are correct, there must have been men on the earth 
previous to the deluge. 

FOSSIL BRICKS. 

The following details of a singular discovery made 
at the city of Hudson in the state of New-York, in 
November 1803, are copied from a paper published in 
that place, called the Bee. " Several workmen enga- 
ged in digging a well for Mr. S. Wigton a few rods from 
the upright rock which forms the bank of the river in 
front of this city, a few days since, threw up a num- 
ber of fragments of well burnt bricks which were found 
about forty feet under the surface of the earth. The 
account which the workmen gave of a discovery so sin- 
gular, was at first considered as a trick to impose on 
the credulous people, till two gentlemen to convince 
themselves descended to the bottom of the well and 
with a pick-ax dug out of the hard compact gravel sev- 
eral pieces, which still retain perfectly the impression 
of the mould. No whole bricks were found, though a 
workman broke up with his spade one which he thinks 
was entire, and says that the pieces when put together, 
would have made a brick of about eight or nine inches 
in length. 

The horizontal or alluvial strata of earth perforated 
in digging the well, were as follows or nearly so, 5 feet 
yellow sand; 16 feet yellow clay; 17 feet marl, very 
ponclrous, and of a blue color, resembling that of a lime 
rock in the vicinity ; 11-2 foot reddish ochcrous sand 
and gravel ; 6 inches hard pan. or gravel cemented 
with marl ; 11-2 foot tine yellow sand ; and 3 feet 
coarse slatety gravel. All these were under-laid by 
the primitive rock which forms the margin of the riv- 
er : In the stratum of redish gravel and sand, the 



n 

Bricks were ibund, its also several large graftitical 
stones." 

$ Tfkese- things we know are ndthi^rich liior rare^ 
But wonder kow the devil they came there." 

€t Logs and stumps found under ground are doubt* 
less wonderful things v but a well manufactured brick, 
taken up from forty feet beneath the present surface of 
a quarter of the world, believed to have never been in- 
habited, but by tribes of wandering savages, is a thing, 
indeed passing strange." 

On this I would only remark, that bricks, not being 
the productions of nature, nor of idle vagrant savages, 
but the works of civilized man, there most assuredly 
has been in this country, previous to the deposition of 
all the strata which overlaid these bricks to the- depth 
of forty feet, a civilized population, And that the 
cause, whatever it was, that buried them thus deep, 
must have been of such a destructive and revolutioni- 
zing nature and extent, as, to totally disorganize every 
animated being within the sphere of its operation ;— 
And we can conceive of no cause, saving a general in- 
undation capable of producing these effects. 

The result is, that these regions were inhabited be* 
fore the flood, by men who practised arts similar to 
those now in use ; and that these very bricks were 
manufactured by the men of the old world ; andtho' 
we should never discover any vestiges of their persons, 
yet by tracing out their works we find that such have 
existed. And we can hardly entertain a doubt, but 
that the bones of some of them, ns well as the bones of 
antediluvian quadrupeds, may y^t, in the course of e» 
vents, be discovered. 

"That there. were animals before the flood there can 
be no manner of doubt, this their bones and shells in- 
corporated with rocks and stones abundantly demon* 
strate. And the fossil bones of the mammoth witness 
the same. 



But these facts being detailed particularly else* 
where we shall say no more in this place on the subject. 
They are so obvious that they will not, perhaps be de* 
nied. But we having some singular ideas respecting 
the sera of Noah's flood, shall in the course oAhis work 
attempt to demonstrate that the only universal deluge 
that ever took place, was prior to the commencement 
of the present dynasty of all animals whatever, 
GIGANTIC HUMAN SKELETONS. 

With only observing, that the author of the following 
details, is recommended from good authority, as a per- 
son of veracity ; I shall transmit them in his own 
Words. 

Bridgeport, December 21, 1808. 
JOSEPH BACKUS, Esq. 

SiR, 

In compliance with your request, and in answer 
to your different inquiries, be pleased to accepi the 
following statement. 

In the spring of the year 1807, I was master of the 
ship Jupiter, of Philadelphia, on a voyage up the Med- 
iterranean ; and in the month of May in that year, lay 
a considerable time in the port of Clargenti, in the 
island of Sicily ; situated on the southern side of the 
Island, about twenty leagues south east of Palermo, 
and about thirty leagues south west from Mount Etna. 
While tying there, I was informed that some human 
skeletons of vast size had lately been dug from the 
ground, about three miles from Gargenti. My curio- 1 
sity led me to visit the spot from w hence they were ta- 
ken, and to examine and measure the bones. On arri- 
ving at the place I was shown two skeletons, the one 
much broken the o'.her entire, except a small piece of 
one of the leg bones being wanting. The bones of the 
entire skeleton wefe promiscuously laid in a box ; but 
measured when laid in a natural position, 1 I leet 4 in-* 
ches, Italian measure, in length ; ten of which inches 
are equal to nine English, or verv nearly ; making th# 

O 



74 

> 

skeleton about ten feet and a half English. I measured 
one of the thigh bones, which was 26 Italian inches 
long, and of a proportionate size — its diameter, as near 
c s I could judge, being about four inches English — 
The head, including the skull and jaws, were about 
the dimensions of a common two gallon pail or .bucket j 
and the rest of the bones were in suitable proportions to 
those described ; the whole being a human skeleton, or 
the entire bones of a man as above described, of gigan- 
tic size, certainly of a height, when living, of not less 
than ten English feet, and probably several inches 
jugher, by reason of the cartileges between the joints, 
muscles and skin, on the top of the head and soles of 
the feet. 

The discovery of the bones was made, as I learned 
from the inhabitants, about a year before I was there* 
Some of the neighboring people having pitched on the 
place from whence they were dug (a vale by the side of 
a mountain) for the purpose of digging of sulphur (an 
employment common in that Island) opened the ground 
and by degrees descended to the depth of 170 feet, 
when they came to a marble wall, erected by art, 
and ornamented with hieroglyphical representations - 
While attempting to remove a part of it, the wall fell, 
when within was discovered a hollow place, in which 
were the bones described, and which appeared to have 
been enclosed in marble coffins or cases, also adorned 
with hieroglyphics. The parts of the supposed cases 
were so broken by the falling of the wall that their pro- 
per shape and design was not ascertained. One of the 
skeletons was also much broken at the same time ; the 
other was however entire as before stated. 

. .The falling of the wail so deranged the parts of the 
vault, that it could not be determined whether it was 
.In fact a sepulchre or some othei building ; nor was it 
ascertained whether those were skeletons deposited 
there by design, or were those of persons kill ed by the 
kinking of a city, arid buried in its ruins at the time of 



some awful catastrophe-^— but that at some period of the 
world the place where the bones were found had been 
the site of some opulent city, adorned with the Kris, 
and which had, by some great convulsion of nature. bee% 
sunk 8c overwhelmed by the sea, there can be no doubt : 
the marble blocks and slabs taken from the wail, part 
of which had not been removed, all engraved in the 
most curious manner, with various devises, and which 
I carefully viewed, having descended into the aperture 
to its bottom for that purpose, satisfied me of the fact. 
Besides, the earth through which the workmen descent 
ded was all made earth, appearing to be composed 
of sea sand, filled with oyster, scollop and other sea 
shells of uncommon size. There was however no tra- 
dition among the inhabitants, as I could learn, of such a 
city, or of any such great convulsion as must have de* 
stroyed it. The people were still laboring at the depth 
mentioned. 

Thus sir, have I complied with your request as fa> 
as my recollection will at this time enable me to do it. 
I am willing to make oath to the truth of my statement, 
When convenient for you to attend for thai purpose. 
I am Sir, 

Your most obedient servant. 

JAMES ALLEN. 

STATE OF CONNECTICUT, SS.> 
Bridgeport, Dec. 23, 1808 3 
Before me, Joseph Backus, Notary Public for the 
state of Connecticut, residing at said Bridgeport, per- 
sonally appeared captain James Allen, signer of the 
foregoing letter, and being duly sworn, made solemn 
oath to the truth of the statement therein contained. 

JOSEPH BACKUS. Abtf Pub. 

R E M A R K 8. 
From the circumstance, that these ruins arc discov- 
ered at a great depth in the earth, we are to cor^lucU? 



fi 

that the city - was sunk by ah earthquake ; a species tij; 
calamity, to which the island of Sicily has ever becu 

subject. 

hrom the circumstance, that the history of that 
island has been known from high antiquity, and yet the 
inhabitants have neither history nor tradition of the 
iormer existence of any such city, we are to conclude^ 
it was swallowed up at some very remote period. 

From the circumstance, that the earth perforated, 
Ivas ail composed of sea-sand, filled with oyster, scol« 
lop, and other sea-sbelis, and those uncommonly large, 
c nd thcit the hma:.ri skeletons were also of an enor- 
mous size, we are to conclude that this catastrophe 
look place prior to the universal deluge ; and also, that 
the deluge was not produced by rain, but by an exunr 
dation of the sea, as I have already, in the preceding 
pages endeavoured to evince. 

It has been said that the Cyclops^ a gigantic pcop!e r 
having but one eVeand that in the middle of the fere* 
head, anciently inhabited the island of Sicily. Is if 
Dot likely that this fabulous account grew out of facts I 
"find that gigantic skeletons had been discovered in that 
' island a£ an earlier period, from whence the story was 
propagated ? And, that the ancient discovery of tbeLe 
Skeletons, -.combined with the tremendous roai ings* 
■fcy^phifig»and thunderings of the volcano of mount lit* 
na, gave rise to the poetic fictions in the heathen my* 
thology, which represent the Cyclops (under Vulcan 
the master workman) as being employed in forging 
thunderbolts for Jupiter. 

Moses, speaking ot the men of the adtedii Vivian ages., 
plates, That there were giants on the earth in those 
days. Gen. VI. 4. It is very possible that some of 
the postdiluvian race, had in their peregrinations of ear- 
ly times,discovered gigantic skeletons of men of the old 
worlds, whence it might well be presumed that such 
there atill were, though none of them were seen alive. 

I. have previously hinted that the Mammoth was pr$- 



77 



bably an adtediluvian animal, the whole race of which 
perished in the deluge : and we have equal rea- 
son to believe that the adtediluyian race of men were 
generally of this gigantic stature, and that the whole 
race were exterminated at the same period. For we 
are to presume a due proportion of size, between men 
and quadrupeds of the same dynasty, And, that both 
these were too enormous to associate with the present 
inhabitants of the earth ; who, as elsewhere suggested, 
we are to believe are of a postdiluvian origin, and con- 
sequently, that the present world was created on the 
ruins of an old world. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Inquiry .—How long is it since the present races of 
mankind commenced existence ? 

THIS is an enquiry from which we are not to expect 
a satisfactory result. And candor requires us to intro- 
duce the subject with a frank acknowledgment, that it 
is unascertainable. But in as much as it is a question 
often agitated and has ever been a subject of enquiry 
among the curious ; and is a point in which the sen- 
timents of mankind widely differ, it may perhaps be no 
mispence of time to examine into the grounds on 
which these opinions stand ; and, by all the means in 
our power approximate the desired object. 

Some contend that the existence of man, has been 
continued from a period of the very highest antiquity, 
sometimes called, Eternity. Others that it has not 
exceeded five or six thousand years. That the earth., 
the seat of his residence, had an original existence, 
we have already attempted to prove ; yet we do not 
find any thing in the unbounded field of contemplation 
to impress the idea, that it has forever been a habitable 

G 2 



to 

World. Much less do we find any grounds on which 
to conjecture, that the present is the primary dynasty 
of the human species. But as we evidently discern in 
the whole system of nature, the certain signs of Infinite 
Intelligence, we are led to conceive, that as all matter 
originally existed in a chaotic state, it was: at an epoch 
of incalculable antiquity reduced to form and order, by 
a Supreme Intelligence, in a regular process which 
his wisdom dictated. That in the course of such pro- 
cess, the earth was reduced to its present form and re- 
lative position , after which a due portion of time was 
necessary for its maturation, and. the production of ve- 
getables, before it could become the fit habitation of 
animals, and that man was probably the. last, -as being 
the most perfect, of animated nature ; and, as all oth- 
er animals were inferior and subservient to him. 

It does not appear at all likely that the present stock 
of mankind arc descended from the primary stock. 

(1.) Because we cannot trace their existence to so 
early a period as we must believe the first of the creation 
must have occupied. (2.) Because we find ample test- 
imony that the whole earth &as been overwhelmed by 
the waters of the ocean ; the spoils of which, are depo- 
sited on every land ; and thence derive presumptive 
evidence, that the former race of the kind, as well as 
of all other terrestrial animals, have been totally exter- 
minated. Whence we are, from the necessity of the 
•case, impelled to believe, that as well mankind, as the 
animals of every other kind, now in existence, are of 
a later creatiom For we have no data whereby to trace 
these to an earlier period than about six thousand years 
ago. 

For were we to admit that the present race of men 
iiavebeen pepetnated on earth, by reproduction.,, from 
eternity ; it thence becomes necessary to admit also, 
that man in the former ai»es of his existence, was in- 
finitely more stupid, and less inventive and enterpri- 
aim* thaw in t|ie later ages ; for we find .our con tempo- 




79 

taries constantly progressing in science,, prolific in the 
invention of new arts* and in additional improvements 
of the old. And we also find that a similar progression, 
in some centuries more, in others less, has been kept 
up, time immemorial, even from the highest antiqui- 
ty to which the historic page can carry our researches. 
Hence we are to conclude that man, if possessed of the 
same talents which we witness in our contemporaries, 
had been on the stage of action, infinite ages prior to 
the reach of history, he must undoubtedly have ad van- 
ced hnman science to the highest degree of perfectibil- 
ity, before that period : even far beyond what the pre- 
sent age can boast, or any past ages have been known 
to enjoy. Some works of genius, we must suppose 
would have been transmitted in an unbroken series, 
from one generation to another : so far, at least, as to 
have reached our earliest historians ; and been, by re- 
peated transmissions communicated to the present age. 
So also, would have been, as we must suppose, many 
works of labour, thus far extant, if not entire : That 
some vestiges of them would have lemained, such as 
cities, temples, fortresses, aqueducts, pyramids, am- 
phitheatreo and the like. It cannot be supposed, that 
as long as mankind continued to re-produce in an unin- 
terrupted succession, the works of genius and labour 
would have been so far destroyed, as not by some 
means to have come within the sphere of our 
knowledge. 

But of all this nothing appears. This infinite suc- 
cession ofao-es, if it ever existed, has long since sunk 
into total oblivion ; and with it has sunk ail their arts, 
their sciences, and their labours. The chain of com- 
munication has been broken, and every vestige of their 
existence destroyed by some universal devastation. A 
new order of things has been introduced, and the first 
knowledge we have of the condition of man, is, that 
he is in a savage state ; totally destitute of all the arts 
and sciences ; observations and experiences ; -provi- 



^0 



sions and labours ; with which we should expect to see 
the heirs of infinite ages embellished. 

We are hence convinced, that the first of the human 
race, concerning whom, any correct intelligence has 
not been communicated to us, were not descended from 
such very ancient progenitors, nor favored with the 
provisions and improvements of eternal ages, nor even 
with those of very high antiquity, for the unpolished 
state of their manners reprobates the idea. But though 
we may have sufficient grounds to believe these ages 
have existed, yet we have equal reasons to believe 
them to have been destroyed by certain astonishing 
events, resulting from the eternal institutions. of divine 
providence : And, that we who now exist are derived 
from anew parent stock, or stocks. Besides finding 
that our ancient progenitors were savage, we find also, 
that they were but few. Whereas we cannot doubt, 
but that if an uninterrupted population had continued 
from remotest antiquity to their day, the world would 
have been replete and probably overstocked with inha- 
bitants four thousand years ago, at least ; which cer- 
tainly was not the case ; for the first ages within our 
knowledge were but sparse, and thinly scattered over 
the several sections of the earth. 

Every deduction that occurs on the question mili- 
tates in the negative. Nothing appears to support the* 
idoa, that mankind have, by reproduction, been per- 
petuated from the ages of the highest antiquity. And 
it is to be presumed, that enough has been said to dis- 
miss the subject with an absolute negation : and en- 
quire into the real time when the great family of man- 
kind commenced their present dynasty. 

SECTION II. 

The most ancient records that wear a complexion of 
authenticity are those of the Hebrews, and of the Chi- 
nese ; and these indeed appear rather doubtful prior 
to certain periods. The one embraces an incredible 
length of time, and the other a suspicious diminution. 



They are the histories of two different nations from their 
first rise, and at that time wholly unknown to each oth- 
er. Both are however, from certain epochas down- 
ward, so well supported by other historical sketches, 
and concurring circumstances, as to entitle them to a 
high degree of credit. And it is worthy of remark, 
that, distant and unknown to each other as they were, 
they agree in fixing the epoch of civilization in those 
distant countries, at or about the same period. Bf 
which means they have acquired mutual corroboration - x 
and transmitted to posterity, with a tolerable degree of" 
certitude, the time when men first emerged from sav- 
agism to social habits. 

The first combination of men who are known to have, 
engaged in any cnterpiize that required subordination 
and social habits, was at the building of Babel, after* 
wards enlarged and called Babylon. This was, accor- 
ding to the- chronology of the Hebrew copy of the Bi- 
ble, before Christ 2247 years. The builders were the. 
dcsc&udaats of the three sans of Noah, viz. Japhct* 
Shem, and Ham. 

The history of China is allowed, in the estimation of 
the learned, to be correct us high up as the reign of the 
emperor Yao, b. c. 2057. This indeed is 190 years- 
after the enterprize at Babel, but when we consider: 
that cnterpi ize as the first united effort of the descend- 
ants of Noah ; and that the Chinese (the descendants 
of ?oan K.011, who, according to them was the first 
man) had become in the reign of Yao, a considerable 
nation- so far improved ah to keep i cgular annals, which, 
whether correct or not, antecedent to that period, had 
in fact registered a long race of kings prior to Yaa : our 
ideas are naturally carried back to the first rise of that 
ancient nation, and we are thence led to bciicve that 
civilization had begun to cement that people two or 
three generations, at least, previous to the then reign- 
ing monarch. This will on the lowest calculation, car- 
ry it as high as the enterprize at Babel : and we. arc 



m 

hence to conclude that civil habits commenced in both 
countries at, or about, the same time. Man then en- 
tered into social life, before Christ 2247 years, to which 
add the date of the present year 1 807, the sum of social 
life, is, from its commencement to this time, 4034 
years. 

But the greater difficulty attendant on the object un- 
der* consideration still lies behind : that is, to ascer- 
tain the period of savagism which elapsed before civil- 
ization commenced. Ail historical narrations, as bin* 
ted before, previous to the social state, appear suspi- 
cious. The Bible Chronology makes it but an * hun- 
dred years from the flood to the building of Babel : a 
period by far too short to produce a population from 
5 three women equal to the magnitude of the enterprise; 
4^ ^ The author of the book of Genesis has intimated that 
all the human race were connected in this undertaking 
and the whole descended from the three daughters in 
, ^ law of Noah ; and all this according to the genealogy 
himself has given, within an hundred years. Admit - 
^ ting the three men to have doubled once in every hi- 
teen years ; which is without doubt a high ratio, then 



S 

i 



* If we admit that Moses was correct, and this I feel 
no disposition to controvert, it then becomes necessary 
^ to admit that the text has been corrupted, either by 
copyists or translators, Corruptions of this kind have 
frequently occurred in writings both sacred and pro- 
fane. Various instances may be adduced, but three 
may suffice. The antediluvian period according to the 
Hebrew copy, is, 165 6 years ; according to the Sama- 
ritan 1307. This is 349 short of the Hebrew. The 
Septuagint copy carries it to 2262 years ; which ex- 
ceeds the Hebrew by 606 years, and the Samaritan by 
95 5 . The time of Jacob's death, according to the Sep- 
tuagint version, is b. c.T794, to the Hebrew 1689, 
These being but copies of copies, and the original ex- 
fcinct, it cannot be discovered where the error lies, 



^ tmct, it cannot De discovered w 



19 

in the course of an hundred years they would have 
doubled six times and two thirds. The aggregate in- 
clusive, supposing none to have died, would have been 
509, of which 128 would have been boys under ten years 
of age. But the historian has led us to believe, that 
even at the commencement of the work, multitudes 
were engaged in it. And indeed the magnitude of the 
enterprize itself necessarily involves the same idea. 

For it is not to be supposed that so small a party as 
o09 men (even if we were to add to the account 509 
women as coadjutors) would undertake to build a tower ^ £ 
whose top should reach to heaven, to immortalize their ^ t 



wuuac tup auuuiu lentil lu ucavcuj iu liiuiiui lau^c inuii j * 

name, and prevent the disasters of a second deluge : §~ y 
so capacious a city as Babylon. i**^ 



nor would they even presume, to lay the foundation 



Their numbers, are, therefore to be presumed to ^ 
have been very great, and the period of population ff- §^ 
proportional. Besides, he states that while they were ^ 
in the prosecution of the work, God scattered the work-^ ^ 
men abroad over all the face of the earth : in this event ^ jf* 
we should suppose the work to cease. But so great 
were the numbers that remained, that we find the work ^ 
still in a rapid state of progression. That within thir- £ ^ 
teen years after it had begun, celestial observation 
were begun at Babylon, that is e. c. 2234. And 
cannot but remark, that the progress of science inch 
cates prosperity, populousness and leisure. Within 
129 years, we find that Mizraim the grandson of Hunt 
detaches a colony to Egypt and there erects a king- 
dom-That Ninus the son of Bclus, i. 0yof Nimrod, btyt 
59 years after this marches off another detachment and 
builds the superb city of Nineveh, and founds the king- 
dom of Assyria^ and all this within 228 years, accor- 
ding to the Hebrew chronology, after the sons of Noah 
•came out of the ark. 

The whole earth, then is peopled, Balylon and Nir- 
eveh built, science progressing the kingdoms of Egypt 
and Assyria planted, and indeed many others, all in 





m 

ftie<;ours«5 of 288 years, and all from the offspring of 
three women, unless some mistake in the chronology 
has happened. 

To shew the real (existence of a mistake in this re- 
spect, we shall exhibit ah extract from Mr. Rollin's 
Ancient history. A view of which will shew that, that 
$ame country, and all the neighboring countries were 
at that day exceedingly populous : and the vastness of 
their works, the numbers of their labourers and of their 
armies clearly evince the fact. 

SECTION III. 

Population of the first Ages, 
The history of those ages is rather obscure. IS/lv. 
Collin states, that Nimrod was the same as Belus, 
who was afterwards worshipped as a God under that ap- 
pellation : he was the son of Chus and grandson of 
Ham and great grand son df Noah. The sons of CusH 
and brothers of Nimrod all settled themselves in Ara- 
bia along the Persian gulf, and lived near enough to 
lend him their succours afrd receive them from him. 
He thinks the tower of Babel was begun before Nim- 
rod assumed his authority ; but is clear in it, that Nim- 
rod built the walls of Babylon, and went thence into 
the country called Assyria and Nineveh^That having 
possessed himself of the provinces of Assur by con- 
quest, he did not ravage them like a tyrafit, but filled 
them with cities and made himself as much beloved 
by his new subjects as he was by his old ones. Having 
built Nineveh he gave it this name, to immortalize the 
ftame of his son Ninus, who afterwards reigned there. 

Never did any city come Up to the greatness and 
magnificence of Nineveh, it was eighteen miles and 
three quarters in length ; eleven and one quarter in 
breadth and its circumference sixty miles. Babylon 
was a square of fifteen miles on a side, the compass 
sixty miles. Ninus finished Nineveh, a prodigious 
work, after this he resumed his expedition against the 
"Bactrians. His army according to Ctesias consisted of 



85 



1,700,000 foot, 20,000 horse, and about 16,000 Char- 
iots armed with scythes. After the death of Ninus, 
Semiramus, the queen dowager, finished Babylon, in 
which work she employed two millions of men, which 
were collected out. of all the provinces of her vast em- 
pire. 

Semiramus not satisfied with the vast extent of her 
dominions left her by her husband, she enlarged them 
by the conquest of a great part of Ethiopia, her greatest 
and last expedition was against India. On this occa- 
sion she raised an innumerable army out of all the pro- 
vinces of her empire, and appointed Bactra for the 
rendezvous. She advanced to the river Indus, and 
having prepared a sufficient number of boats, she at- 
tempted to pass it with her army. The passage was a 
longtime disputed. But after a bloody battle she put 
her enemies to flight, above one thousand of their boats 
were sunk, and above 100,000 of their men taken pri- 
soners. She passed the river, leaving 60,000 men be- 
hind to guard the bridge of boats. She advanced for- 
ward ; a more bloody battle ensued ; she retreated 
over the bridge. They exchanged prisoners, and she 
returned to her own dominions with scarce one third 
of her army, which according to Ctesias, consisted of 
300,000 foot and 50,000 horse, besides the camels and 
chariots armed for war, of which she had a very con- 
siderable number. 

I have given these details to show the amazing pop- 
ulation of that country in limes said to be so near the 
deluge. Of the posterity of Noah, according to the 
genealogy given by Moses, Chus was of the first gene- 
ration born after the Hood, Nlmrod of the second, and 
Xinus and Semiramus of the third: and within the 
times that they flourished, all that section of the earth 
appears to have been more populous ihan at the pre- 
sent, and indeed, more so perhaps than any country 
now to be found on earth, except the Chinese empire : 
and yet Semiramus found the Indians more than a 

H 



86 



match for her great army ; and Ethiopia was so popu- 
lous that she could conquer but a part of it. The As- 
syrian empire was not only full of people, but was like- 
wise very extensive, and all the countries around it, 
seem to have been as full as these, otherwise such vast 
armies could not have been raised, nor have been frus- 
trated. That mankind should have multiplied to such 
a degree, in so short a space of time, is incredible. 
It may be alleged indeed that there is some mistake 
in : regard to themimbers of men employed in build- 
ing thes*e cities, as also in those employed in the arm- 
ies ; but that such numbers did exist is evident from 
the immensity of the works that were actually per- 
formed ; the building of Babylon, Nineveh and a great 
number of other cities. To evince this we will give a 
short sketch of the works at Babylon. 

First— The Walls, 
Babylon stood on a large fiat or plain, in a very fat 
and deep soil. The walls were in height 350 feet, in 
thickness 8?', and in compass 60 English miles, all 
built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen 
a glutinous slime arising out of the earth in that coun- 
try which soon grows much harder than the bricks or 
stones themselves. These walls were surrounded by 
a vast ditch full of water, and lined with bricks on both 
$ides. The city was a square of 1 5 miles on each side ; 
and on each side of it were 25 gates, 100 in all : and 
all made of solid brass. Between every two gates were 
three towers, and four more at the four corners, and 
three between each corner and the next gate, every 
tower was ten feet higher than the. walls. The streets- 
were 50 ; each 15 miles long ; whereof 25 went one 
way through the city, the other 25 crossing these atj 
right angles. Besides these there weie three half 
Streets which had houses only on one side and the wall 
on the other : these were 200 feet broad, the others. 
150. These streets cut the city into 676 squares, each 
of £-| miles in circumference. The houses had spacer. 



87 



left between them, and were all 3 of 4 stories high, and 
beautified with all manner of ornaments toward the 
streets. 

Second— The Keys and Bridge, 
A branch of the river Euphrates run quite through 
the city from the north to the south side : on each 
side of the river was a key and an high wall, built of 
brick and bitumen, of the same thickness as the wall 
that went round the city. In these walls over against 
every street that led to the river, were gates of brass, 
and from them descents by steps to the river. The 
bridge was not inferior to any of the other buildings, 
either in beauty or magnificence, it was a furlong in 
length and 30 feet in breadth, built with a wonderful 
art to supply a defect in the bottom of the river, which 
was sandy. The arches were made of huge stones 
fastened together with chains of iron, and melted led. 
Before they begun to build the bridge* they turned 
the course A the rivcr^and left the channel diy. 

Ihiid — The ZV/v, Ditches and Ca.iais. 
To prevent the damages the city and country recei- 
ved from the annual inundations of the Euphrates, at a 
very considerable distance above the town, two artifi- 
cial canals were cut which turned the current into the 
Tigris # beibre it reached Babylon, raising at the same 
time prodigious artificial banks oa each side of the 
river, built of brick, cemented with bitumen ; these 
were of considerable length. To the west of Babylon 
was dug a prodigious artificial lake, 40 miles square, 
1-60 miles in compass and 35 feet deep according to 
Herodotus, and 75 according to Megasthenes. Into 
this lake was the whole river turned by an artificial 
canal.. 

Fourth— The Palaces and Hanging Gardens. 
At the two ends of the bridge were two palaces 
which had a communication with each other by a vault, 
built. under the channel of the river, at the time of its 
being dry. The eastern palace was 3| miles in com- 



pas s, th e western palace ¥ § * The walls of the palace's 
were embel ishecl with an infinite variety of sculptures. 
In the eastern palace were the hanging gardens. They 
contained a square of 400 feet on each side, carried up 
one above another till the height equalled that of the 
walls of the city. But we have not room to be very 
particular in these descriptions. 

Fifth — The Temple of Belus. 

This Was most remarkable for a prodigious tower 
that stood in the middle of it. At the foundation ac- 
cording to Herodotus it was square of a furlong on each 
side, that is half a- mile in the whole compass. And 
according to Strabo it was albo a furlong in height. It 
contained eight towers one built above another, and ex- 
ceeds the pyramids of Egypt in height: Bochartus 
asserts that this is the very same tower, which was 
built there at the confusion of languages. It is built of 
crick ard bitumen. The immensity of labour requisite 
to execute these prodigious worlds is a full proof that 
the country" was at that period v%y populous. 

IV c knew no TCcSoh to suspect the authenticity of 
the fore" going details but what respects the invernal of 
time- between the coming out of the Ark, and the en- 
terprise at Babel. But in regard to this, we are strong- 
ly impressed with the idea that more than an hundred 
years must have elapsed within that period : for the 
population compared with the time is altogether in- 
credible. Ten centuries can hardly be supposed equal 
to the population and proficiency of the day. I am sen- 
sible that it has been urged in opposition to this opin- 
ion, that the generative faculties being freed from all 
constraint will produce a rapid population : the justness 
of the sentiment I admit, but deny it to be in any mea- 
sure equal to the increase in question. Nor have we 
any room for a doubt, that China, India, Ethiopia, and 
even '"America, were at the same time pretty well 
advanced in population. We have just now seen that 
.Ninus raised a great army against the Bactrians, and 



89 



that Semiramus advanced into India with a vast army 
and was repulsed, that she attacked Egypt and con- 
quered a large part of Ethiopia, and that China was at 
the same time a potent nation. 

CHINESE ANCIENT HISTORY. 

SECTION IV. 

" The Chinese history errs, no doubt, on the othet 
hand, and carries their national existence to an incred- 
ible degree of antiquity. Poan Kou, is said by this 
people, to have been the iirst man. And the interval of 
time between him and the death ef their celebrated 
Confucius, which was in the year before Christ 479, has 
been reckoned from 276,000 to 96,96 1,740 years. Hut 
upon an accurate investigation of this subject, it ap- 
pears that all the Chinese historical relations, prior to 
the reign of the emperor Yao, who lived b. c. 2057 
years, are entirely fabulous ; composed in moderja 
times ; unsupported by authentic records ; and full>of 
contradictions. It appears also, that the" origin of the 
Chinese empire cannot be placed higher than two ,or 
three generations before the reign of Yao." 

We have now, in order to ascertain cur object, tra- 
ced out the best authenticated relations on record, 
and the result is, that from the first establishment m£ 
political societies, to the present year 1807, is 4Q54 
years. The pericd of Savagism which elapsed prior 
to that epoch is still open to investigation., and is ex- 
ceedingly problematical. An abundance of cogent rea- 
sons, however, occur to evince it must have been-cX 
•considerable duration And indeed, to this very <d?& 
-savagism prevails in all itte crudities in many sections«if 
the earth ; and in many others the state of society i$ 
hut a small remove above it. So that upon the whole 
we cannot pronounce more than half the nations in a 
civilized state. We must howeyer suppose ,moi« 
than half mankind are so, because the civilized .coun- 
tries are more populous than the savage. And wemajr 



observe that several nations were civilized at an earlf 
period. 

The different talents and tastes of Men. 
The subject calls upon our recollection in this place, 
to notice the indelible distinctions, which nature has 
stamped on the Intellectual faculties of the several va- 
rieties of man. Or rather, perhaps, the different tastes 
and propensities it has bestowed on them, as certain 
internal marks of discrimination. Among the six va- 
rieties which the great naturalists, Linnaeus andBuf- 
fori have distinguished, it appears that three of them 
entered very early into social habits ; these were the 
posterity of Noah, the posterity of Poan Kou and the 
descendants or disciples of Briimm a. While the oth- 
er three, vzr. the nations of the polar regions, and 
those of Afr ica and America, III retain their original 
state ofsavagisni. But as this is a very diffusive sub- 
ject and comes in here only by the bye, we shall reserve 
It for its proper place, and proceed en the quest'on be- 
fore us. 

Although we are fully persuaded, as well from our 
own observation as from historical sketches, that some 
nations as well as inclividiial's are from nature, more 
than others. Inclined social habits, and of course, 
to the cultivation of the arts and sciences : Yet we 
fn-ust allow that m general, the savage life is more 
congenial to the -human heart than the social. The un- 
impaired rights and uncontrculed liberties of the sav- 
age, would un con tor vert abl y , as well from habit a's 
from natural propensity, appear more desirable to per- 
sons educated in that way, than all the emoluments of 
society. If therefore all mankind were •formerly sav- 
siges, and It would have been with great 'reluctance' that ' 
they relinquished ; that' state, then civilization 'could' 
have made but slow 'progress. For they m%s£ in the 
out-set, have had a bard sin; ggle : to'" eradicate their ' 
prepossessions,- and the habits of civil society wmiM 
isve been iairodueed but by slow gradations. • And^ 



91 



as it is necessary when men enter into social compact, 
that they relinquish some particular parts of their nat- 
ural rights to secure the residue ; such a relinquish- 
ment would have been, with most men only the result 
of pressing necessity. The event could not be expec- 
ted to take place, till their little villages were over- 
stocked with inhabitants— until they were harrassed by 
their captious neighbors : or, until they were awed in- 
to respect or chilled with fear, by the superior genius 
and faculties of some great character ; as were the 
# people of Shinar by Nimrod ; those of Greece, by Ce- 
crops ; those of Peru by Mdngo Capac, &c. 

Although wc have an idea that mankind originated 
from several parent stocks, which the Creator formed 
and planted in the several appropriate regions of the 
earth : yet when we consider the vast ranges of forests 
they had to traverse, the slowness of increase necessa- 
rily incident to their primeval condition, arising from 
the numerous inconveniencies which they must have 
had to encounter — from the want of arts and imple- 
ments to procure sustenance requisite to their own 
support and that of their offspring. The difficulties of 
procuring comfortable habitations to guard them a- 
gainst the inclemencies of the weather, and against fe- 
rocious and venomous animals. The difficulties of pro- 
viding necessary apparel, and their constant exposure 
to the want of necessary food, from a precarious de- 
pendance on the spontaneous productions of the earth 
and waters. 

These inconveniencies, which we must suppose were 
attached to the first ages of the world, could not but 
greatly retard population. Besides which we are to 
consider they must generally have led a wandering life, 
removing from place to place as the different seasons, 
and spontaneous productions should invite, by which 
means they would be scattered over vast tracts of coun- 
try, and in small parties for a considerable number of 
veers. Ami that some districts must necessarily have 



$2 

become large and populous before they could turn their 
attention to the arts of agriculture, and the other arts 
necessarily connected with it. All which would be ne- 
cessary before they could pay the smallest attention 
to police, or begin to cement into society. Moreover, 
as we know that war and hunting are the common em- 
ployments of savages, we cannot but conjecture that 
many of them would have been immolated in these ha- 
zardous pursuits, for we are not to suppose the men of 
those days immortal. 

So then, upon a collective view of the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the primary inhabitants of the earth, we 
are induced to believe that a great number of years, and 
indeed a number of centuries, would necessarily elapse 
previous to a state of civilization. We must there- 
fore conjecture, that the savage state absorbed about 
2,000 years, to which add the period of the civili- 
zed state, from the enterprise at Babel downward, be- 
fore mentioned 4054 years, the aggregate of human 
existence (as it relates to the present dynasty) to the 
present year, will then be six thousand and fifty-four 
years. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

The Quadrupeds of the two great Continents particu- 
larized and compared ; and their distinguishing cha- 
racteristics remarked* 

ACCORDING to Buffon's latest calculations, in 
his Epoches de la Nature, there are three hundred spe- 
cies of quadrupeds in the world. And America, tho 9 
it does not contain more than one third part of the 
globe, yet contains according to Clavigero, almost one 
lialf of the different species. The world contains jal- 
t>Oj besides these^ an unknown multiplicity of reptiles 



93 



and insects, many of which however, we have seen, 
and have also seen accurate descriptions of many oth- 
ers. 

W e find, in examining the history of animated na- 
ture, that some species are peculiar to the eastern 
continent, and some to the western ; and that some 
are common to both. We shall not hesitate therefore, 
to give it as our opinion, that their parent stocks were 
created on the respective continents, and larger isl- 
ands, and that only some few, of the hardy animals of 
the north, have migrated from the one to the other. 

QUADRUPEDS peculiar to the OLD CON- 
TINENT. 

Horsekixd. — The common horse, the Ass, the 
ZeVa Quachaof Africa. 4 

Cowkixd. — The cow of Europe ; the wild cow of 
Lithuania; the Zebu of Africa ; the Bison of India 
and Africa. 4 

Sheepk 'o. — The sheep of Europe ; those of Ice- 
land, Stc some of which have eight horns ; those of 
Persia, kc. whose tails weigh fron* 20 to 30 pounds ; 
those of the Archipelago wiih strait horns; those of 
Guinea, of a large size, hairy skin, a de wlap and large 
hanging ears. 5 

Goatkind — The European ; the Natolian , the 
Assyrian ; Cape of Good Hope ; the goat of Juda , — 
the Ibex, and the Shammcy goats. 7 

Gazelle-kind. — These have the form arid size of 
the deer but horns like the goat. The Gazelle pro- 
per ; the kevel ; the ccrin ; the zeiran ; the koba ; the 
kob ; the algazelle ; the'pazan ; the ranguer ; the an- 
telope ; the lidme ; the Indian antelope ; the gerhs- 
boch, of the Hottentot's country. - 13 

Axomalus of the Goatkixd. — The bubalus of 
the size of an elk ; the condomaof the size of a stag ; 
the quiba ; the African wild goat ; the chevrotin, or 
little guinea deer, the least and most beautiful of ai! 



94 



cloven footed quadrupeds. The keodo, of the size of 
our deer with large tursted horns. 6 
Muek Animal. 1 
Stag of Europe. 1 
Hogkind, — The common hog ; the wild boar ; the 
East India breed ; the hog of Upsal, with a single 
hoof like a horse ; the hog of Guinea ; the barbirousa, 
or Indian hog. 6 
Catkind. — The lion ; the tyger ; the leopard ; the 
large spotted panther ; the ounce ; the siagush ; the 
caracel of eastern India ; the servai of Malabar; the 
domestic cat ; the lion cat, or cat of Angora. 9 
Jackal, a species of the fox, and native of the tor- 
rid zone. 1 
Isatis, or white fox of Greenland. 1 
Hyena, a ferocious animal of the torrid zone. I 
I) og ki nd *The hound ; the grey hound ; the 
land spaniel ; the water spaniel; shepherds dog ;— 
inactiff; bull dog: lion dog ; lap dog; hairier:-— 
These animals are so blended that it is.'^fibaps im- 
possible to distinguish all the varieties, 1 i;Fwikl dog 
Oi Africa. 1 1 

Weasel kind, unknown in America : the ferret; 
the polecat ; the ichneumon ; the genet ; the civet. 5 
Hare and Rabbit of Europe, disbimular to those 
of America. 2 
Rats.— The great Norway rat : the black rat ; the 
black water rat : circetus. 4 
Dormouse.-- -Three species. 3 
Leming, of Scandanavia. 1 
Hedgehog, of Europe, 2 species. 2 
Tan re c and Tcndrac, of Eastern India. 2 
Pangolin, or scaly lizard of Guinea, from 3 to 
4 feet long. 1 
Bats. — The great bat of Madagascar, whose wings 
when spread measure four feet : the rhinoceros bat. 2 
Apekind.— -The orang outang from 6 to 7 feet tall : 
the cynocephaius, from 3 1-2 to 4 feet tall ; the sm&B 



95 



ape 18 inches high ; the Gibbon, whose arms are so 
long that when he stands upright his fingers reach the 
ground. These all walk upright, and bear a great re- 
semblance to the human species. 4 

Baboon kind. — The mandril ; the wardcrow ; .the 
maimon. 3 

Monkey kind. — M. Buffon who has examined this 
race with the greatest accuracy of any man, .makes 9 
species on the eastern continent, and 1 1 on the wes- 
tern, all entirely different. The eastern monkeys are 
the patas ; the malbrouk ; the mangbey ; the mona - T — 
the callibria ; the moustoc ; the talapoin ; the doue. 9 

Maki kind. — The mococo ; the mongooz ; the va- 
il ; all natives of Madagascar : the lori of the island 
of Ceylon. 4 

•Nyhl-ghau, of a middle nature between the cow 
and the deer. 1 

Gerbua, a very small animal, native of Barbary, 
Palestine, kc. 1 

Camel and Dromedary, of Persia, India, &c. 2 

Camelleopard, a spotted animal of Africa so tall 
that a man may ride under his belly, on horseback 
without stooping. 1 

Elephant. — The largest of all terrestrial animals, 
two kinds, the Indian and African. 2 

Rhinoceros, with a solid horn of ivory growing 
on his nose from 3 1-2 to 4 feet long : one variety has 
two horns one above the other. 2 

Hippopotamus, or river horse. 1 



Total 124 
AMERICAN QUADRUPEDS. 

Lama, of Peru and Chili, resembling a camel in its 
form and uses, but much smaller, and without the dor- 
sal hunch ; and the wild lama called Guanacos. 2 

Tapir, of S. America, about the size of a small 



96 



' coW, resembling a hog in its form, has four hoofs on 
each foot, is amphibious. 1 

Musk bull, of Hudson's bay, some what resem- 
bling a deer but more bulky. 1 

Elk, round horned, the elk of the eastern conti- 
nent having palraated horns like the American 
Moose. 1 

Cat kind.-— The Puma, sometimes called the A- 
merican lion, but has scarcely any resemblance of that 
animal ; the black cougar, of S. America ; a bold, 
fierce and cruel animal ; the catamount most dreaded 
by hunters of any inhabitant of the northern forests : 
the panther, less formidable than the panther of the 
eastern continent ; the Jaguar, a formidable inhabitant 
©f the hottest parts of S. America , the ocelot, of Mex- 
ico and Brasii ; the margay, known in some places by 
the name of the tiger cat ; the kincajou, about the size 
of a house cat, and very numerous in Canada ; the ja- 
guaret ; the wild cat. 10 

Cavy kind. — The cabiai : the paca, or spotted ca- 
vy ; the coati, or Brasilian weasel ; the agouti, some- 
times called the rabbit of the new continent ; the wha- 
bus, or American hare ; the guinea pig ; the rock ca- 
vy : the varying hare, grey in summer, and white in 
Winter : the Brasilian hare ; the akouchi. 9 

Peccary, or Mexican hog. I 

The Sloth, two varieties, named the unan and 
the ai. 2 

The Oppossum kind —These are a four handed an- 
imal ; its varieties are the Virginia ; the Murine ; the 
Mexican, and Cayenne Oppossum s : and the cayopo* 
lin ; the phalanger ; the marmose : the tarsier. % 8 

Armadillo kind, or Tatou ; the Kabassou ; the 
encubert ; the apar : the eachica : the cirguincon : the 
tatouate. 6 

Marmot kind.— The marmot is called in the New- 
England states the woodchuck, in Pennsylvania, the 
ground hog. Its varieties are, the woodchuck ; the* 



Maryland marmot ; the first of these appears to be the 
marmot of the Alps, we shall only count the three last, 
which appear to be peculiar to America. 3 

Musk-rat kind. The muskrat of North -America, 
and pilori of the West-Indies. 2 

Raccoon, An animal peculiar to America, and 
found in all climates. 1 

The Ant Bear, denominated by Buffon, the larger 
tamandua, the smaller tamandua, and the ant-eater. <C 

The Ursok or Urchin, sometimes called the 
hedgehog, sometimes the porcupine, but differs from 
both these animals in every characteristic mark, ex- 
cept his being armed -with quills on his back, he is 
found in great plenty near Hudson's Bay, and some of 
them as low down as the United States ; the Brazilian 
porcupine differs as much from the Urson as the Urson 
from the porcupine of the ancient continent ; and the 
coendou has just barely a sufficler* resemblance to 
bring it within the same genus ; and the little coen- 
dou belongs to the same tribe. 4 

The Stinkard kind. The skunk, the squash, the 
conepcte, the zorilla. 4 

SqiRREL kind. The grey squirrel* the fox squir- 
rel of Virginia, the lesser grey squirrel, the ground 
-Squirrel. 4 

Monkey kind. The monkics of the new continent 
differ from those of the old, in the make of their nos- 
trils, in having no callosities on their posteriors, and 
in having no pouches on either side of the jaw. These 
also, differ from e?xh other in a part of them making 
no use oftheir tails to hang by. while others of them 
have their tails very strong and muscular and serving 
by way of a fifth hand to hold by. Thoec with a pre- 
hensile tail are called Sapajous ; those with feeble use- 
less tails, Sagoins The Sapajous are (1) the warine 
or preaching monkey, (2) the Coaita or spider mon- 
key, (3) the Sajou or flesh coloured face > (4) the Sai 
©r weeping monkey, (5)ihc Samiii, aurora, or orange 

I 



monkey. The Sagoins are (l) the Saki or Cagui o* 
foxtailed, (?) the Tamaim or great eared, (3) the 
Wisubi tufted face, (4) the Sfarikhii or the lion tailed 
(5) the Pinch or red tailed, (6) the Mike- or little 
beauty. 1 1 

The other animals peculiar to America, are the AIeb> 
the Paeb, the Se'rval, the Saricovierme, the Tapeti, 
the Crabier, the Aperea, the Surikate, the Mink, the 
Indian Fig, the Coquallin, the Fourmiilier, the Sari- 
gue of Caycnne } the Tucan, the red Mole, the Vstm- 
pyre Bat, the large wood Rat with a row of hair on the 
upper side of the tail, and the shrew Mouse, the smal- 
lest of all quadrupeds, different species of these are 
found in various parts of the continent. There is like? 
wise a ground Rat, that burrows in the ground, twice 
as large as the common rat — [Bertram's travels. %% 

* The Jumping Deer of Hudson's bay, 3 species. 3 

* Apis-to-cmick-o-shisk or Cu Blanc of Hudson's 
Jay, Gazelle kind, 1 

An animal of Californa, between the cow kind and 
the deer kind. I 

In Brazil a fierce animal some what like the grey 
Sound, and a creature between a bull and an ass, but 
without Korfs, very harmless, the flesh is very good 
and has the flavor of beef. " 2 

Total. 101 

^tJ^ftUPEt)S common to both CONTINENTS. 



Mammoth, 
Buffalo, 
White Beak, 
Rein Deer, 
IvIgose, 
Brown Bear, 



Black Bear, 

Wolf, 

Glutton, 

Wild Cat ? 

Lynx, 

Beaver, 



Marmot, 

Vis-on, 

Porcupine, 

Martin, 

Wateh 'Rat, 

Weasel, 



rr -:' — ~ ■ ~ — ~ 

^Umfiire^ille's Hist, of Hudson'b Bay, 



9 9 



Si sox, Otter, Flying squm- 

Red Deer, . Badger, rel. 
Fallow Deer, Red Fox, Shrew Mouse 

Roe Buck, Grey Fox. 

Animate) natives qf batJi Continents. 

Were all the quadrupeds which are allowed in this 
digest to be natives of both continents, to be accurate- 
ly examined, we can hardly doubt, but that in several 
of them, material discriminations n sight be discovered. 
That there is at some seasons an ice communication 
between the two continents in ihe polar regions, we 
cannot doubt, by which some of the. more hardy a?*!* 
mals may have passed over from the one to the other. 
They may, under the impulse of hunger, have stran- 
gled so far from their former haunts, as to have been 
unable to retrace their steps. Or, they may have lest 
themselves by pursuing or being pursued over the fro- 
zen seas, or the straights ofBhering. Some of them 
indeed, may have swam these straits, or have been 
carried on floating islands of ice : there are ways c- 
Though by which we may conjecture ti e possibility .of a 
migration, fur some of them : But for others we can 
discover none. We must therefore conjecture it to.be 
much more likely that nature produced in the differ- 
ent continents, several animals similar to each other; 
and some perhaps precisely of the same conformation. 
For we are totally unable to assign any reason, why ti e 
creative power shou dbe limited in its operations more 
to the one continent than to the other ; or be restrain- 
ed from works of assi milation. 

Dr. Robertson asserts, " there is not in all America 
an animal, wild or tame, which prope rly belongs to the 
warm or temperate climates of the eastern continent.'* 
To this he might have added with strict propriety 
<c nor to the torrid regions. 5 ' For besides the discrim- 
inations visible upon a minute investigation, even in 
those, which exhibit upon a cursory view, some con- 
siderable resemblance ; we can see no possible means 



100 

'whereby the J- should effect a Inigration. But then he 
conceives ic more than probable, " that all American 
•oi igiiiai anirnals, were of those kinds which inhabit the 
northern regions only, and that they must have migra- 
ted thence ; the strait of Kampschatka being but eigh- 
teen miles wide." To this I disagree without the least 
hesitancy. For it is evident from all the works of 
zoology, and even from the inspection of the foregoing 
catalogue of American quadrupeds, that a very large 
proportion of those animals are such as belong to thfj 
temperate climates only ; and also, than there are in 
America, several species of animals which cannot live 
ir\ any but the torrid zone. Are the Tapir, the Lama, 
the Armadillo, the Sloth, the Ant-eater, the Monkey 
and others 1 might mention, s\..« has inhabit northern 
regions only ? Certainly not ; nor can they in their 
wild state exist in those regions. They can neither 
bear the cold, nor find proper sustenance. Some -of 
thetn cannot, even with all the fostering care of human 
art, survive a removal into those regions for any length 
of time. Nor can we conceive it possible for them to 
have emigrated ny the strait of Kampschatka, had it 
been but eighteen inches wide, for one chilly night 
would have congealed their blood and disorganized 
them forever. 

That most of the quadrupeds, common to both con- 
tinents, may have migrated by an ice communication or 
otherwise, from the one continent to the other is high- 
ly probable ; but whether they wandered from the east 
to the west or the contrary way, is perfectly i*n certain. 
>or, that animals were indiscriminately created cn both 
continents, there can, as we conceive, be no doubt. 

That no quadruped of the torrid regions, has migra- 
ted to America, from either Africa or the Indies is 
clear to demonstration, not only from the impractica- 
MKty of the tour, but from the dissimilarity of the ani- 
mals themselves. Some' writers have said, if there 
a re ..but live, species of quadrupeds common to Africa 



ion 



and America, viz: the bear, fox, stag, wolf and wea- 
sel, and none of these are properly African." Upon 
examination I find there are not so many. The wolf 
is not in Africa, but travellers have mistaken the jackal 
for that animal.* Xor do we learn by late travellers 
that the fox is there, but likely the wild dogs which 
abound in that country have been mistaken for it. The 
stag is not known in America. The bear is found on- 
ly in the north of Africa. The weasel is common to 
both, and probably originated in both. The assimila- 
tion of animals, however, is no proof of their deriva- 
tion from the same parent stock. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

.Additional evidences that the now existing races of 
Animals were created afier the 
DELUGE. 

CONVINCING evidences, that the terrestrial ani- 
mals which at this time occupy the world, could, by 
no possible means, consistent with the laws of nature, 
or ordinary providence of God, have been derived from 
antemluvLui progenitors, necessarily result from the 
prec&ling observations. And other testimonials, of 

similar import, throng around from every quarter 

Yet, as common ©pinion still supposes, that a remnant 
of every species w T as saved in the ark, to re-people the, 
world ; I would in this place suggest the improbability 
of such a saving. We have already shewn that the de- 
luge was effected by an inundation of the sea, which 
is evinced by the spoils of the ocean discovered on eve- 
ry part of the earth. The agitation of the waters must 
at that time have been very great and their motions \i- 

* M. SotfMNi's l*ravejs in Africa. 

I 2 



w 

olent, they could not otherwise have torn from their 
■beds, the testaceous tribes with which the bottom of 
die sea is paved, nor have carded them to such heights 
*nd distances on the land and even over the mquntain, 
tops. So strong must haye been the currents, and so 
^tupenxkrus the billows which accompanied the tempest 
that tfie strongest bult man of war could not have sus- 
tained its fury a single hour : much less could an as k 
-square built , and into the construction of which, there 
3iever went perhaps an ounce of iron, have weathered 
the tempest, not to say 150 days, but probably not so 
3nany minutes. 

Besides, theeapacity of the ark described, appears to 
have been inadequate to the cargo. The number of 
animals and the quantity of provision ^support them 
r a year and ten days, must have required a great deal of 
room ; and the eight persons it seems would have had 
a hard task to deal out their numerous messes in thajt> 
darkiplace. And I know not why the whole should not 
have been suffocated, or at least have bred the jail dis- 
- temper in their prison ship, ior want^of fresh air. 

That there were extraordinary rains at the time^ 
we are to believe, for the cause existed. The unusual 
heat caused by the near approach of the cornet would 
in the ordinary course of events, raise an immense, 
quantity of watery vapours which must descend in rain. 
r But ihese rains bein^; jumped out of the seaarrcl ]:^ur- 
>ed do vvii m copious showers, could not be supposed to 
have stood abeve the top of the 'mountains five. 'months ; 
'but the vast cavities cf the ocean being ne w emptied, 
the waters froro the moment they fell, would have pre- 
•cipitated them selves in torrents, to restore the equili - 
brium and ;e ? : estabi I sh the harmcny of nature : We, 
are not to believe they eon Id ever, have risen above the 
winmits. ;of t he - hh>u lit ai n s at all.; and if they h ad th ey 
could foot hft-ve niaint: iaed that elevated situation 3 5$) 
'days ; for it. is an un c g .11 ir o ve v I ah ! e uxt,. •U.^t. watexs.da 
immediately seek thsrif tf>:*3i htygk * 



103 

Tjfthe origin of A^^4#W^.#frj>-££$. 

But in as much as several eminent writers on natu- 
ral philosophy, (viewing these matters in a different 
light) still hold that a remnant of animals of every de- 
scription was saved in the ar ; k to re-stock the earth with 
4heir progeny ; and? that all the American animals, as 
well as all others, were, derived from them : It now 
becomes necessaxy, in order tq establish our hypothe- 
sis, to shew, that even though a remnant had been sa- 
^ed of every species, yet no. man has hitherto he en sl-t 
ble to shew, with any complexion of probability, how 
the animals of the American continent, and of macy 
of the detached inlands could have possibly come from 
them. 

Tor to sav nothing of their apparent dissimilarity, yet 
men of the first talents have never been able, with all 
their .exertions, to evince, even the possibility of their 
migration. In vain have numerous conjectures beem 
formed, and the faculties of th£ humaja mind exhaus- 
ted in vain. 

That the earth has been deluged with water, is con- 
spicuous 10 all m en of observation and reflection. And 
that the deluge was effected by an exundation of the 
sea, is demonstrated by the marine exuviae deposited 
on every section of it. Rut those who believe the del- 
uge took place since the now existent creation of ani- 
mated nature, are involved in insuperable difficulties. 
They have laboured long to shew the probable wa\s 
and means by which the aboriginal Americans migra- 
ted from the old continent to the new : the possibility 
of this is -now ascertained by our late navigators, who 
have discovered that the northwest part of America is 
separated from the northeast part of Asia, only v fcy a 
narrow strait. The next thing re to shew- from what 
nation of -Asia they were /derived, this has been often 
attempted, kut the more they labour this point, the 
fnrtherahey are from the disoovery : and it is by this 
Htime vbl^hlj. probable, Jti lea&t^ that they were iwt da- 



104 



rived from that continent at all, but created in Araerf-- 
• a. As various have been their schemes and as stren- 
uous their exertions to prove the migration of quadru- 
peds, to the new continent, from the old : but in this 
their labours have been equally abortive. 

St. Augustine solves the difficulty of peopling the 
islands (for America was not known in his^ day) with 
wild beasts and noxious animals, by supposing, either, 
( 1 .) That the Angels transported them thither. (2 .) 
They might swim to the islands. (3.) They might 
be carried there by men, for the sake of hunting. (4.) 
They might have been formed there by the Creator at 
first. It had been strange indeed, if a man of his 
genius could not have formed a probable conjecture 
in guessing four times. Indeed he has done so well 
at last that we could not have wished him to guess 
.again. That they were formed there at first we shall 
endeavor to prove. 

" In regard to America, it has been the opinion of 
Acosta, Grotius, BufFon, Clavigero and other great 
men, that the quadrupeds as well as reptiles, passed 
thither by land, and of course that the two continents 
were formerly united/' The principle they have 
gone upon is, that all animated nature properly terres- 
trial, has originated from a remnant preserved in the 
ark. But this principle we shall, with due deference 
to wiser heads, presume to contest. 

That the massrof mankind, who are never expected 
to examine with accuracy into the laws of nature, and 
institutions of divine providence, should follow the 
footsteps of their forefathers, and implicitly embrace 
their opinions, cannot be looked upon as any thing 
strange : for they seldom cast a thought beyond their 
own vocations, and what occasionally results from the 
ordinary occurrences of life. But when we contem- 
plate a class of men, possessed of philosophical talents, 
and, whose minds have been enlarged and elevated by 
a liberal education ; we cannot exonerate them from 



the imputation of credulity, when we see them limit 
their own ideas by the circle of common opinion, and 
tacitly submit to be hampered by the prejudices of ed- 
ucation, Have they never learned, that Vt lhc ancient 
philosophy of Egypt and the east, was founded more 
on sentiment than on nature ? And have not all men 
yet learned, that improvements in natural philosophy 
have been rapidly progressing in some of the interme- 
diate ages ? And, that in the 18th Century in particu-' 
lar, discoveries in that useful science have exceeded 
the aggregate of all that went before ? In consequence 
ofvuiich, mankind are warranted to draw conclusions, 
on many important points, diametrically opposite to 
many which had assumed great plausibility in days of 
old. 

The Abbe Clavigero (after several previous obser- 
vations) says, <; Tire reasons already mentioned, in- 
duce us to believe that there was formerly a tract of 
land which united the most eastern pans of Brazil Vo 
the most western parts of Africa, and that all the space 
of land may have been sunk by violent earthquakes, 
leaving only some traces of it in that chain of islan^ 
of which Cape de Verd, Fernando de Norona and St. 
Matthews islands make a part ; and also, in tne many 
sand banks discovered by different navigators. These 
islands and sand banks may probably ha\c been a part 
ofth.it sunken isthmus. In like manner it is probable] 
that the northwest part of America was united to the 
.northeast part of Asia, by a neck, of land which has 
'been sunk or washed away.' 5 

By these imaginary isthmus's, the Abbe accounts fo.r 
the peopling the continent of America, with men, 
quadrupeds, and reptiles. There is indeed some plau- 
sibility in the speculation : but unfortunately, so far as. 
respects the southern isthmus, facts are against him ; 
/or the bear is the only animal common to both cqoik 
tries : and that -is known "in Africa only in the North, 
ajld in Sout]w\me.rica only on the Andes ; both situa- 



*06 



ted very remote from the imaginary Isthmus. That 
some few animals may have passed from Asia to Amer- 
ica, not on this isthmus, but by an ice communication 
we have already admitted. 

Mr. Pennant, disregarding- the Abbes southern isth- 
mus, on account^ as we may imagine, of his superior 
knowledge in zoology, by which he had discovered the 
Universal dissimilarity of the animals of the two conti- 
nents, has suggested another scheme of migration. 
He has conjectured that all the animals of America, e- 
ven the inhabitants of the torrid zone, emigrated thro* 
the frozen regions of Siberia and Kampschatka, and 
entered the continent of America, probably on the ice, 
at the strait of Bhering. That to effect this they pio- 
gressed slowly, and got seasoned to the climate gradu- 
ally, and wandered thence southerly, until they arrived 
re-3easoned ? to a climate suited to their respective na- 
tures. 

But if the severed species of slow footed animal s$ 
such as the sloth, armadillo, he. travelled from Afri- 
ca in that circuitous route, how long let me ask, must 
they have been in accomplishing their journey ? Ages 
no doubt. Besides, there are very few species among 
the American animals that are known to exist on the 
•eastern continent, and among those of the hot climates 
the fewest of any. But let us turn our attention to 
those that are found on both continents. How should 
the black bear, who is torpid in the Cold season, make 
his way through vast regions perpetually so cold os to 
chill his blood ? How should the marmot of the Alps, 
(who is spread over all North- America, and known by 
the various names of the marmot, the woodchuck, 
and the ground-hog) whose blood coagulates at the ap- 
proach, of winter,so that he lies burrowed in a torpid sta' e 
five months of the year ; how I say is it to be conceived 
that he could pass over these cold climates ? The sloth 
is a* native of the island of Ceylon, as well as of South- 
America ; how is it possible he could travel that c!h- 



I6T 



tance in five thousand years, through those unconge* 
nial climates ? tfow should the aifigator who never 
travels many perches by land, who is torpid in Caroli- 
na during the winter season, and whose nature and ha- 
bits are not at all adapted to saltwater ; how should ffig 
I\say, come from the warm climates of the eastern 
continent, a long voyage and out of his proper element I 
How should the green lizard of South-Carolina, who 
is sometimes tempted by the warm sun-shine to leave 
his burrow, arid so extremely delicate his nature, that 
even in that moderate clime a sudden change of wea- 
ther chills him through, and strikes him dead, before 
he can retreat to his cell ? How should he I say, pass 
through all the frigid ciinies of the north, behardened 
to them and afterwards find his Way to Carolina, and 
there resume his original delicacy I How indeed, 
should any animal whatsoever, whose nature is adapt- 
ed to the temperate zones, be furnished with proper 
aliments in these inhospitable regions, and how sus- 
tain the rigorous frosts I 

This system must be totally unfounded — reason, 
common sense, and all the energies of the soul revolt 
against it. It cannot be supported, without first ad- 
mitting that these quadrupeds were all impelled, fed 
arid protected against the frost, by a continued series 
of miracles, of several ages duration. But what need 
haye we to recur to any special miracle on the occa- 
sion ; it is certain that they were created somewhere, 
and even if we admit creation to be a miracle, yet a 
creation in America, is no more a miracle than a crea^ 
tion on the eastern continent, so that allowing they were 
created in America docs not add to the number of 
miracles, as this scheme of uncongeni 1 migration does. 

But if we must have recourse to miracle to account 
for the introduction of these animals into America, we 
ought by all means to adopt the lesser miracle of St. 
Augustine, arid conclude, that not only the quadrupeds 
arid reptiles, but likewise the men oi' America were 



10S 



transported thither by Angels. Or, to expedite thfc 
business, we may as well imagine that they were all 
taken, by whosesale, directly from mount Arrarat, 
immediately upon their disembarkation from the Ark, 
by a mighty whirlwind, and wafted through the atmos- 
phere, to America ; and, that upon their arrival on the 
coast, the aerial vehicle formed itself into several sub- 
divisions, and each section having received its proper 
cargo, hastened to its place oF destination, whether 
torrid, temperate, or frigid ; and there disembarked 
each one in his own proper climate. This would have 
been doing business accurately : and besides, it would 
have saved the poor animals many a hungry belly, and 
many a frozen foot. 

The foregoing observations apply as well to the de- 
tached islands as to the American continent. If no cre- 
ation has taken place neither since the Hood, nor in 
different countries, how came they there i To many 
of these islands no terrestrial animal can swim ; and 
besides, many of them, especially the whole genus of 
cats, nave a total aversion to water. The Phillippine 
islands, Java, Borneo, Sumatra and other large isl- 
ands in those seas, abound with wild beasts, of almost 
every description, tygers, rhinoceros, elephants, bears, 
monkeys, deer, buffaloes, Sec. Borneo has also the 
Orang Outang. And in New-Holland, is the Kangu- 
roo, an animal not known on any other spot of the 
globe. The snout is long and slender, it has cutting 
teeth besides four canine teeth ; the hind legs are much 
longer than the fore ; it never walks but moves by 
gre at bounds of ten or 12 feet at a jump : the flesh is 
reckoned good food; it weighs from 60 to 80 pounds. 
This animal we are to presume was created on this isl- 
and at first, for bad it been saved in the ark we can con- 
ceive of no possible means by which it could have got- 
ten there. Nor can we see by what means the animals 
just now mentioned csme upon the islands they now in- 
habit, unless they originated there. New-Holland has 



169 



been but a small section of it explored ; it is highly prq- 
bable that other wild animals may yet be found there. 

In the last preceding chapter we have made out 
three different catalogues of quadrupeds, the first com- 
prehending those peculiar to the eastern continent ; 
the second those of the western ; and the third those 
common to both. If America was originally supplied 
with all its quadrupeds from the old continent, how 
should it happen that one hundred different species 
should migrate to America, so universally as not tc* 
leave a single breeder behind them ? And upon what 
grounds are we to form a conjecture, why, in this 
time of migration, a still greater number should re- 
main on the old continent, and not one of the kind mi- 
grate ? We cannot, however, upon a full investiga- 
tion of the subjects be, by any means satisfied that any 
such migration ever took place : for by far the greater 
part of the American quadrupeds named in that cata- 
logue, are inhabitants of South- America, and a large 
proportion of them such, whose natures and habits are 
adapted only to the hottest climates, which, for the 
reasons above given, could not possibly have perform- 
ed the long, cold, and circuitous route. But must be 
supposed to have been made and stationed at first in> 
the regions they now inhabit. 

In regard to those of the third catalogue, common 
to both continents, though some of the more hardy 
ones, say four or live species, may have taken the fri- 
gid tour, yet the greater part of them, notwithstand- 
ing their similar conformations, were probably, deri- 
ved from different parent stocks, formed and planteci 
originally, by the creative power, on the two different 
continents. For we know not why we should circum- 
scribe either the will or the power of the Creator to lo- 
cal operations : nor why the work of creation as well as 
of providence should not extend to all the different re- 
gions of the earth. 

The result then seems to be, upon every investigate 



110 



lion of which the subject appears to be susceptible. 
That none of the animals of the old world have survived 
the dehige ; nor have the American animals origina- 
ted from a parent stock saved in the ark T but ; except' 
some few, they received their primary existence in the 
regions they now inhabit. And in regard to those' few* 
exceptions^ it still remains a doubt, on which conti- 
nent they commenced existence. Also, that the wild 
quadrupeds, to say nothing of the reptiles, on the de-' 
t ached islands must have 1 originated where they now 
inhabit * ' ' ! - ' '"' ; ' 

And it is an undoubted fact, that among the animals 
of the two continents which bear the same name, there 
is a great dissimilarity j* and some of them are so di'f- - 
ferent that they ought not to be called by the same 

CHAPTER XV. 

Birds) Reptiles, and Insects, were created after the 
DELUGE. 

BIRDS. 

IN the war of elements' and convulsions of nature, 
incident to the deluge : the winds being so outrageous 
tha$ the birds could no longer keep the 'wing, and 
the ocean rolling ov er all lands, so that they could find 
there no rest for the sole of their foot, they undoubt- 
edly must have perished in the general wreck of ha- 
tare ; and been utterly exterminated. A new crea- 
tion therefore became necessary, and the matter pro- 
per for the' formation of these, as well as of all other 
animals, being inherent in the earth ; the eternal 
providence of infinite wisdom, we are to presume, had 
^disposed it, that, at this eventful period it should 
spontaneously accumulate to forin the '.original egg 



in 



from which the parent stock of every species should be 
produced. . • 

The continent of America furnishes a variety of spe- 
cies; ;nd indeed several whole genera, of birds. which 
are unknown on the old continent. Many of these are 

• short of flight ; and many peculiar to the hot climates, 
There are also on the ancient continent, species and 
generas which have never found their way into the 
new. The islands of the southern pacific abound with 
various kinds wholly unknown to the north of the equa- 
tor. Birds therefore, like other animals, are in seme 
measure local. It is these that demand cur present 
attention: for the question before us will be whether, 
the American birds originated in these regions 
sprung from a parent stock preserved in the Avjk, in 
Mexico, birds are abundant. It is said there ar^e two 
hundred species peculiar to the country ;. seventy of 
theni admired for food, thirty-five for - beauty, some 
for talk, and others for the melody of their song. 
Those that are local, cannot be supposed to have waf- 
ted themselves over the Atlantic : nor to have passed 
through the frozen regions of the north. Birds 
passage, such as wild-geese, pigeons,, brant, kc. we 
say nothing about. But as we find different kinds of 
birds attached to different regions of the earth, ana 
not common to other countries, we are to piebiane- 
they originated in the countries where, they reside. 
The American birds of the same name as the Europe- 
an, are all different in form and size. Their qaaik, 
partridges, larks and.pheasants, are very different from 
ours;, REPTILES. 

\V r e have before mad-e some remarks on the pjlig&r 

"tor and green lizard of Carolina; and exhibited the 
apparent impossibility of their having, migrated frojn 
the ancient continent. . But there. .are, besides tiiefie, pi \ 
1 he American continent, great numbers, of reptiUs^y^ 
other lizards, toads, frogs, tortoises, &x. also snakes 
in great abundance. Dr. Morse has furnished a Jj>t 



HQ 

of thirty-seven species of the last mentioned reptiles, 
found within the United States. It is a known fact, 
that there are various other kinds in other parts of the 
continent. Some of which, within the torrid zone, 
are of an enormous size, said to be from 20 to 50 feet 
in length. These serpents abound in many detached 
islands also, great in size, in numbers, and in variety, 
so that the inhabitants are in constant jeopardy How 
are we to account for the migration of any re pule 
whatever, either to this continent or the detached isl- 
ands', from the old continent ? We cannot account for 
it ; nor do we believe in their migration, but must be- 
lieve they originated in the different countries where 
they are now to be met with. If so, then the creative 
power has wrought in different countries.. We have 
a reptile of the lizard kind in the United States, which 
from its inactivity we call the Slow. I have seen them 
in Connecticut and in Pennsylvania, they are found un- 
der fiattish stones and old junks of rotten wood. It is 
about eight inches long, body large towards the head 
and tapers to the tail, eyes prominent, skin smooth, 
shining, brown, with many round yellow spots. It 
ha& four legs, but placed so awkwardly as to be ai most 
useless. It Is however a living creature, formed by 
the same creative power that made us all. This can- 
not be one of the creeping things saved in the Ark, for 
It is presumed that it could not have crept from Ana- 
rat to Pennsylvania in a whole eternity. It must be of 
this coumry make. We may here observe that the 
same power that creates reptiles, creates also, the 
other branches of animated nature : and the same that 
creates in one country may create in all countries. And 
we are not to refer the origin of any of them to the an- 
tediluvian period. 

INSECTS. 

Let us now summon the innumerable multitude of 
Insects with which the American continent abounds, 
fco witness the truth of our position ; and prove to the 



unthinking world, that afi tne ranks of animated na - 
ture, that tread the earth or fiy . the. air, h ay g been 
created since the deluge : as also, that, the creative 
power has not circumscribed his operations to the 
Asiatic regions, but extended them to all appropriate 
regions of the earth. I # 

The insects alone, trivial as they may appear to, the 
eye of a superficial observer, are abundantly compe- 
tent to our purpose. Merely their existence, simply 
considered, affords ample demonstration, that the Cre- 
ative Power has been active at some remote period 
subsequent to the destruction of the old world. — 
as no pretence has yet been mad€ that a seed of xbeso 
was preserved in the ark ; nor, that even though they 
had been, they could by any possible adventure, have 
transported themselves from Mesopotamia to eyery 
section of the Ameirican continent. It must there- 
fore be admitted on ail hands, that they are in fact ab- 
originals, and a post-deluvian work. 

Let not the proud philosopher, nor biggotted the* 
ologist, despise their testimony on account of their di-. 
minutive size. For in them it is that nature has dis° 
played her most exquisite workmanship ; has -spun her 
tinest fibres ; has bestowed her most elegant paints, 
and given her last polish. Has endowed many of 
them with the most surprising instincts : the bee ; the 
ant ; the spider ; the silkworm, &c. has furnished 
some of them with veiiemous properties ; such m 
the scorpion, the tarantula, &c. Has inspired nic-.ny of 
them with the arts of music, and furnished ther.i wiur 
a variety of appropriate 01 ganizaticn, as the cricket, 
the locust, the katydid, kc. 

In point of vivacity, the insects exceed all othei an* 
imated beings on eaith : their optics are most acute,* 
and their motions so quick that the eye can hardly ksej* 
pace with them. What variety ef kinds a sum* 
mer's day presents to our vie w, adorned \s it h the iiv.~« 
t&cat tints, and their gay plumage glitterinr; inihe 

J2 



Ill 

beams. Every climate abounds with an infinite vari- 
ety ; and still different species occupy different cli- 
mates. 

But how came they into America ? Were they cre- 
ated there ; or have they sprung from millions of pa- 
rent stocks preserved in the ark ? If so, did the win- 
ged fly over the Atlantic, or waft themselves over the 
Pacific ? Surely Not. For had they mounted on the 
wings of the wind, most of them would have died of 
mere superannuation before they had accomplished 
half their voyage. How then, did they come by the 
way of Greenland, and stop to bait on the floating isl- 
ands of ice ? Or, did they leap from Kamtschatka a- 
cross the strait of Bhering Or, taking advantage of 
the extreme frosts, dkkthey travel on the ice commu- 
nication ? No, none of these. One chill blast in 
those frigid regions would have disorganized them 
forever. But why do we indulge in these puerile en- 
quiries ? Is knot because the subject wea'rs a ludi- 
crous aspect ; and the imbecility of an adverse tenet? 
^precludes all rational disquisition ■? 

' Qur most inveterate opponents, it is presumed, will 
not deny that the insects of America and the islands 
are aboriginals and not emigrants from Arrarat. T£ 
then tliey were not preserved in the ark, they must 
have originated subsequent to the flood. 

To such a superficial observer as I am,, it seems to 
appear that insects of various kinds are hatched by 
the action of a warm sun, from eggs deposited in the 
mud: if so the same cause under given circumstaBc.es 
might produce larger animals ; but. I, find I am getting 
Into deep water, and therefore desist. 

If then r Insects commenced existence since the de- 
k;ge, why not reptiles ; if reptiles, why not cjuadru- 
lleds ? and finally, why not man ? For every animated 
& being, whether great or small, rational or h rational, is 
* equally the production of infinite power and -wisdom.. All 
—axe.the workmanship of the one Supreme Intelligence, 



We have now examined some of the most plausible 
hypothesis in regard to the stocking the new con» 
nent and detached islands with quadrupeds, reptiles, 
birds, and insects, from a remnant supposed to have 
been saved in the ark. We have to this end selected 
the most celebrated advocates of that doctrine : but 
we find all their schemes incumbered with insurmount- 
able difficulties. The authors of those systems do not 
believe in one another ; and we find no cause for be- 
lieving in any of them. For the rational mind, if I 
know what is rational, must revolt from them all. 

They have devised as many schemes to evade cor- 
rect rationality, in this point, as did the former ages to 
evade that of the Pythagorean system. Their Ptole- 
mys and Tycho Brahes have strained every nerve, but 
are still deficient The motion of the earth was ad- 
ciitted, and the Copernican system adopted after a 
struggle of more than two thousand years. And it is 
very possible that we may be two thousand years too 
early in attempting to prove that the earth has been 
once destroyed by an inundation of the sea, subsequent 
to which anew creation took place, in which several 
varieties of man and other animals were brought into 
existence We cannot, however, but expect from the 
general good information, and liberal sentiments of 
this enlightened age, that a general accession to ra- 
tional principles may take place in a much shorter pe- 
riod. The Galileo who adopts the sentiment will not 
be constrained, by the superstition of an overbearing 
clergy, to renounce it as a damnable heresy to save 
him from the tortures of an inquisition. Yet we are 
. not, however, to flatter ourselves that ignorance and 
superstition are at an end, the dregs of them still ran- 
kle in the human breast, and too often envelop reason 
in muts and darkness impenetrable. Genius and eru- 
dition are still tampered with orthodoxy, and indeed 
with adve"se orthodoxies. Men of the first talents 
cannot in every instance relinquish the favorite s_ys- 



116 

te A 1 of their ancestors, nor gain a complete ascen- 
dancy oyer the prejudices of education : but are still 
inclined to view every object with a jaundiced eye, and 
pertenaciously adhere, in spite of reason, to systems 
no longer tenable. But whoever rightly considers 
these things must become sensible that the scriptures 
were not given to make men philosophers, but to in- 
struct them in their duty towards God and towards one 
•another. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

( I.) The several varieties of man were derived from 

as many parent stocks, 
f II. J Though some different varieties of animals may 

propagate together und their progeny stilt prop agate j 

&hey are not to be considered as being derived from one 

■and the same parent stock. 

THAT God created several pairs of human beings 
at first, we are induced to believe, from the general 
physiognomy of the different nations of the earth *: for* 
had they been all radically the same, a greater simi- 
larity must have pervaded the whole « 

That this creation took place after the deluge is 
manifest ; for that niust have been a crisis of complete 
extermination. 

That he placed them in different regions of the earth 
and adapted their natures to their r espe'etive climates, 
is evident from their peculiar fitness for^ and attach- 
ment to, t hose climates. The tempe rate'zorie is 'dis- 
agreeably warm to the Laplander, and disagreeably 
cold to the Africam They both feel discontented in 
those i\el ectable regions, because to both they are un~ 
congenial. So different is the texture of their blood 
and the sensibility of their nerves, that, iri the same 
icmjmratxire of air^ tixe one is offended with the fceaft 



1 17 

■and the other with the cold : neither of them feels 
himself in his proper element The enc longs for the 
serene sky and bleak winds of the frigid zone : the 
other for the sultry air and vertical sun oi the torrid. 

We have in the preceding chapters endeavoured to 
evince, that all animals of every species were created 
after the demolition of the old world for the express 
purpose of peopling the new. (I.) Because e\ cry- 
terrestrial animal must have perished in that time of 
universal convulsion. (2.) Because we can in no 
other way account for the present residence of the wild 
animals found in America and the detached islands. 

And when we reflect on the present appearances of 
mankind, we find ourselves equally embarrassed to 
account for them on any other principle. For bad they 
all sprung from a single family preserved in the Ark, 
they must have borne a greater likeness : and that in 
various respects. That aii mankind originated from 
one stock, is, it must be confessed a very ancient opin- 
ion : h%\ antiquity cunnot Sanctify error. So it is also, 
a very ancient opinion that the earth was as fiat «.s a 
trencher : and that it stood still, and ail the luminal ies 
or i.ca\en moved round it : but. these notions arc row 
clone away. Nature hasbeenvery prolific in the multi- 
plication of species in both the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms, and in diffusing these species into several- 
varieties. Among the domestic animals we observe 
several varieties which procreate together ad infini- 
tum : the same is also observable in man ; and the va- 
rieties in both, we are to presume, were more distinct 
in theirprin evd state than at present. The wildan- 
imals who have suffered no restraints in their copula- 
tions are not so much mixed and blended as the Ume. 

PJRT II. 

Mr Buffon has considered that all animals which 
procreate together and their offspring *till continue to 
procreate are of one species, and that they sprung from 



t IS 

one and the same parent stock. But this conjecture 
appears to be ill founded 

(I ) The rule is applicable to domestic animals on- 
ly, and to but a part of them. These are the animals 
that are friendly to man, and have put themselves un- 
der his protection. Their services to him are very 
important, and they were undoubtedly designed by 
providence for his benefit, as well as he for theirs. 
They are the cow-kind, the sheep-kind, the goat-kind, 
the dog-kind and the camel-kind, The horse and ass 
unite and produce a mule, but nature has marked him 
with sterility. Buffon has supposed all the varieties of 
these species are derived from one parent stock, that 
is, that the wild cow of Lithuania, the cow of India 
with a long hunch on the middle of her back ; the bi- 
son of Africa which is taught to guard the flocks of his 
benefactor, an&over throw the armies of their enemies ; 
the bison of the further India with two large bunches 
on his back, one before and the other behind ; the bison 
of America with a large protuberance on the shoulders 
an4 a shaggy mane ; the zebu, or little cow of Barbary 
with a high bunch on he* shoulders, without a mane, 
and the domestic cow of Europe. These seven varie- 
ties of the cow kind he has conjectured to have come 
from one parent stock : as also all the varieties of 
sheep, goats, and dogs ; the varieties of each from 
one parent stock : and, maugre all external apperan- 
ces, for no other reason but because they unite in pro- 
creation. 

(2.) His maxim does not apply to any species of 
■quadrupeds in a wild state, for though many of the spe- 
cies have several varieties, it is not known that they 
propagate together without limitation. (3.) Nature 
has put on these several varieties of domestic animals 
her unequivocal characteristics of distinction, and per- 
petuated these distinctions from time immemorial; It 
is presumed the cow of Europe has never been known 
to.produce a bison or a zebu : nor indeed that any pi 



these varieties have, without cross coupling, at any 
time produced a progeny resembling any of the other 
varieties, but it is a known fact, that each variety al- 
ways produces its own likeness. (4.) It is however 
acknowledged that the varieties of ihese tame animals 
are capable of producing with any other variety of their 
own species. But we are by no means authprised. to 
conclude from this single circumstance, that they all 
sprung from one parent stock. We are rather to as- 
cribe this capability to the benevolence of a benign 
providence, who, far the convenience and .benefit of 
man bestowed it upon them, by giving to several use- 
ful animals, though different in external appearance, 
a similar internal conformation. This indeed was ne- 
cessary to the animals themselves, they being destined 
to subsist on the same kind of food. This internal con- 
formation which includes the stomachs, genitiles, and 
of course the time of gestation, has rendered them ca- 
pable of producing a mixt offspring in every degree of 
consanguinity, and although it is a real convenience to 
the animals themselves and to man, yet it is no proof 
at all of their having sprung from one and the same 
parent stock. 

(5.) Mr. Buffcn himself, has supposed, that all 
these animals which he now conjectures to have 
sprung from one parent stock, had assumed their 
present appearances before they come under human 
cultivation. This was certainly at a very distant peri- 
od And why he may rot as well admit they received 
hem from the hand of nature in the out-set, I cannot 
concv Ive. Could he imagine it would have been too 
great a fatigue lor the creative power to have formed 
as many kinds of Cows, Sh.ee]) and Goats? Surely 
not, for the same power has formed as many kinds of 
Cats, Gazelles, and Monkeys It is agreed on all hands 
that these have existed uniformly the same from the 
earliest periods to the present day : and we know not 
of any pretence that anyone variety among them all, 



120 



has, without coupling with some other, been known 
at any time to produce a progeny similar, in its exter- 
nal form, to any other. But this, if they had come 
from the same parent stock would have happened ; for 
why should not nature be as capricious now as six 
thousand years ago ? We must therefore, till some 
other proof of their identity appears, than barely a un- 
ion in procreation, conclude that the rule is ill foun- 
ded. 

(6.) When we shall seethe common cow produce 
a progeny of full blooded bisons or zebus, or either of 
these varieties producing each other, without coupling 
with them, we shall then, but not till then, acknowl- 
edge that they may possibly have been all derived 
from one parent stock. 

(7.) We may as well conjecture from external as 
from internal conformation, that different kinds of an- 
imals sprung from one and the same parent stock : and 
thus unite the buffalo and ox, several of the cat kind 
and of the deer kind. But the fact is that wheresoever 
we discover the marks of a fair and permanent distinc- 
tion, whether external or internal, whether in form 
or in taste ; we are to consider the animals, as having 
come from the hand of nature with these discrimina~ 
tions upon them ; and undoubtedly, from different pa- 
rent stocks. 

(8.) The result is, that though animals of different 
appearances do in fact procreate together, it is to be 
considered as one of those conveniencies, which na- 
ture has adapted to the benefit of the animal and of 
man ; but not as any kind ©f proof that they sprung 
from one and the same parent stock, 

THE VARIETIES OF MAN SUPPOSED TO BE 
ORIGINAL. 

I have omitted no opportunity, that my limited ac- 
quaintance with natural philosophy has presented, qf 
enquiring into the real cause of the national distinctions 



tit 

of man; and tome it is clear, that all the ingenuity of 
ages, hitherto, has never been able to assign a rational 
cause of the existing distinctions, without recuriingto 
the creative power \ and admitting that they were so 
made at first. The only plausible cause assigned, that 
I have been so fortunate as to meet with, is, that they 
have resulted from natural causes ; and this perfectly 
corresponds with my own idea, provided they would 
not explain it all away. I attribute it entirely to natur- 
al causes ; that is to the hand of nature in the day *f 
creation. But still they mean something else, and ma- 
ny ingenious arguments have been adduced to substan- 
tiate their hypothesis, but all to very little purpose. 
They have not pointed out natural causes adequate to 
the effect. Tiiey have indeed, suggested them, but 
not shewn either the existence, or the operation of 
them ; and, after all their utmost exertions, fall infi- 
nitely short of demonstration. The advocates of the 
doctrine, will not hesitate to admit, that in the greater 
part, if not all, the species of animated nature, except 
man, God has created several original varieties ; or 
different kinds : and, would they with equal candor, 
admit the same respecting man, they could find no oc- 
casion to ransack the unbounded fields of speculation, 
and pervert common sense) in pursuit of sophistical 
arguments to prove the reverse. 

They ascribe those distinguishing nr.Lrks mostly to 
climate ; and some have conceived that even the food 
on which men subsist, may have a wonderful effect on 
their complexion and features Of the effect of food, 
it has not been proved by any experiments whatever : 
nor can we conceive the probability of any such effects 
resulting* from it. 

Climate we know, will vary the shades, and, from 
the experience of ages, we know it will do little more. 
It will not turn white men into negroes, nor negroes 
into white men. It will not change the lank hair of the 
filindoo or the Moor into the woolly hair of the AM- 

K. 



can ; for though the complexion of all these people 
equally black, and although they have all inhabited the 
same climate time immemorial, yet, the original dis- 
tinctions of both hair and features are still preserved. 
It will not give the Indian of the torrid zone of Ameri- 
ca the black hue or frizzled hair of an African ; nor 
will it give the Indian of the temperate zone, the fair 
complexion, the light coloured hair or blue eyes of an 
European, These discriminations, cannot therefore 
be attributed to Climate. They are not accidental, but 
radical : not transitory but permanent. Itis from, these 
considerations (others corroborating) that we feel an ir- 
resistible impulse, to believe the several races of hu- 
man kind to have descended from as many pair of dif- 
ferent first parents. 

W e hav e on the island of Madagascar a proof in point, 
'This being an island of Africa,' the original inhabitants 
were undoubtedly negroes. The present inhabitants 
are of different complexions and religions. Some 
whites, some negroes, some mahometans, sonie pa- 
gans. The whiter and those of a tawny complexion 
who inhabit the coasts, are descended from the Arabs, 
as is evident from their language and religious rites. 
Mi ny of them observe the Jewish Sabbath, and give 
Some account of the sacred history ; the creation and 
^fall of man ; as also, of Noah, Abraham, Moses ancj 
David i From whence it is conjectured, they are de- 
scended from the Jews, who formerly settled here, 
though none knows how or when. A full demonstra^ 
iion that climate will not assimilate black and white* 
though they both live in the same vicinity time out of 
mind. The same distinctions are likewise visible, be- 
tween the natives of Lybia and wandering Arabs in the 
same country. Hence again we infer, that the varie- 
ties of man are not deviations from one origin, but re^. 
productions from several. Otherwise their identity 
'jGO\ikl not have been preserved for unknown ages un- 
*ler the influence of tliQ same climate. 



us 

CHAPTER XVII. 

TVie varieties of Mankind are not deviations from one 
Original^ but re-productions from several. 

FROM the numerous authors who have undertaken 
to advocate the doctrine of universal consanguinity ; 
or, to prove that ail mankind descended from Adam, 
^ve will select the observations of M. de St Pierre. He 
not only holds a distinguished rank in that class, but 
frem being a recent writer on the subject, has had the 
advantage of consulting those who preceded him But 
Jet us first premise, that it is not the vivacity of genius, 
the captivating manner, nor the elegance of diction, 
that can make a lasting impression on an honest en- 
quirer after truth. These may steal his approbation 
for the moment, but will vanish at the approach of 
reason, which always moves with a slow but determin- 
ed step. 

Our author has said many fine things and said them 
very gracefully. Among other things he has consid- 
ered the black hue of the inhabitants who live under the 
ecliptic as a beneficent adaptation of providence, in- 
asmuch as it screens them, in a great measure, from, 
the inconveniences of a vertical sun : because black 
absorbs the rays of the sun, whereas white reikc:s 
them. But whether it is owing to the colour of the 
skip or peculiar texture of their blood, that they s,o 
greatly delight to bask in the sun beams may be a pro.-, 
blem of diftcult solution ; for, I have often obser- 
ved the green frogs solacing themselves in the 
same way. This black colour however, according to 
my apprehension, must be rather injurious than bene* 
ftceni* "if heat is any inconvenience to the poor negroes 
head. For the more sun-beams it absorbs the hotter 
it must be, whereas if hi$ hue was such as to reflect 
them, they would be thrown off to some other object. 
The very reason therefore, which he assigns for, mi>> 



12* 

tales against his position. But this is rather aside 'from 
our present object, which is to enquire whether the 
black colour is natural or accidental. 

He has supposed also, that the black and white all 
originated from one and the same parent stock. The 
iv Lite he has supposed was the original and the black 
Wt accidental. Dr. Goldsmith, supposes likewise that 
all sprung from one stock, but That black was probably 
the original colour. EutM.de St. Pierre has concei- 
ted that Mack is an accidental colour, and only the ef- 
fect of climate. And a better ground than this, it is 
presumed* no man can assign ; unless he admits it to 
Mve been natural. He has rightly alleged, that Afri- 
ca is the hottest spot on the globe -; much hotter than 
*my other country lyin.g in the same paridlei of latitude, 
because of the reflection of its sandy desarts : but at 
the same time he admits that the inhabitants of India 
: #re as black as those of Africa. All this we admit. But 
if <fndia is not as '"trqt as Africa, and yet the people are 
-equally black, we thence infer that the black colour 
does not result altogether from the heat of the •climate * 
but in part, at least, from some other cause ; winch 
cause whatever it be, must have been laid in 'nature. 
Per the Arabs which aix of Adam -s posterity and have 
inhabited the same climate from * long before MosesV 
xlay, are yet. but tawny ; and besides, their whole phys- 
iognomy is still more different than the colour of their 
■^kiu. , 

To prove that black colour is the effect -of dim ate, 
^ve instances the Mogul family in India, and says, " The 
Moguls were originally a white people, for the word 
Mogul signifies white, hut they are now become as 
Hack as the other people of India." If we are to be- 
lieve this statement, h« has proved to us that the Mo- 
; :gul family have become black by the effect of climate ; 
s<uid also proved one thing further, which perhaps he 



* 440 years ;pvior* 



S*5 



Tiever thought of ; that h, that tlie Tartar race is^ es- 
sentially different from the European race. For, if 
in the course of 400 years the Mogul family bus be- 
come black, by residing in Delhi ; and the Egyptians 
and Arabs who have inhabited the same parallel of lat~ 
itude, four thousand years are not yet turned black; 
there must have been some natural difference between 
the two races. 

The complexions of the Egyptians and Arabs who 
-are exposed to the action of the sun and wind are taw- 
ny ; but those that keep within doors are still white $ 
If therefore the people of India or Africa have acqui- 
red the black hue by the effect of climate, their origin 
must have been different from that of the European 
race : for if 4000 years will not produce the effect on 
the European race we are to presume it cannot be done 
at all. We are sensible however, that climate has a 
very considerable effect on the complexions of men 
of every race. But if it has the power of turning 
«ome to a proper black, and others only to .an 
olive colour, or tawny, it proves that ail are not of one 
lump. Nature has laid a different ground work which 
accident cannot reduce to uniformity. But if the Chi- 
nese and Moguls are both of one and the same stock, 
as asserted by Linnceas and Buffon, it is still doubtful 
if the Mogul family in India, without intermixing 
their blood with the Hindoo race, lias become black 
in the course of 400 years ; for the Chinese who have 
inhabited the same parallel of Jatitude. from beyond 
the reach of history, are not yet became black ; they 
are only somewhat tawny, and those who are not ex- 
posed to the sun and wind are called w hite, thoug.ii 
more properly a straw colour. 

The natives of the island of Sumatra, which Ues di- 
Tectly under the Equator are of a yellow complexion. 
But the Gentoos, settled on the coast are black. iGonv 
plexionlhen is not the effect of climate : itaddsaiejp 
shades, .but is not a governing principle. 

JL 2 



The woolly hair of the Africans, we "find accounted 
-for in the same author, by a very singular conceit. He 
has attributed it to the excessive heat of the sun, bea» 
-ting upon their heads, which they do not cover ; and 
supposes this has crisped it up into -wool ; the people 
►of India, who he acknowledges are as black as they, 
and live in the same climate, liave lank hair. This 
difference he attributes to the Indians wearing turbans, 
which he supposes wards off the crisping influence of 
the sun. That thie excessive heat of the sun should 
convert their hair into wool, is, I believe, a new idea. 
3tis well known to have an opposite effect on quadru- 
fpeds. The African sheep, which is also common in 
India, has no proper wool at all, but is thinly covered 
^with a shaggy kind of hair. Afid the European sheep 
'When carried into the tropical regions -soon looses the 
^crisped quality of the wool, which turns to a long kind 
f ofhair. These are facts so generally known -as to 
need no furtherpi oof. 

-But our author is not the only one who- has failed in 
attempting to shew that all mankind are derived from 
*ene parent stock. It is the^eommon lot of all who sub- 
stitute sentiment fer reason, in vain'Mve the energies 
^ofthe human mind been exerted, and great talents dis- 
played to substantiate the position. The most they can 
do on the subject is but sp-lendid declamation: they have 
-often dashed away with much seeming plausibility ; 
^which answers well enouglrwith those who never think 
*for themselves, but plod aIong v in the- old beaten path 
of theological pliilosophy. But their productions dis- 
solve under the strictures of common sense, like but- 
He-r' in the sunshine. They cannot bear the scrutiny. 

.And we are kd to conclude without hesitation, that 
-after so many-ineffectual attempts, no evidence exists. 
-As also that the (Creator formed in the-' beginning, sev- 
eral parent stocks of the h*mf&4i&rid f : i-ntrinM-catty dis- 
tinct from each other ; k placed them in appropriate re- 
ligions of the earth ; and that the descendants-of *&bx&- 



J 27 



Ti.we preserved their original peculiarities to the pres- 
ent day. That as the history of the primeval ages is 
enveloped in obscurity, much truth is of course kept 
behind the curtain, and an immense field cpened for 
speculation and debate. 

The world is governed by sentiment, and reason 
must bow to it. This has been the course of events 
"In the moral system from the earliest periods, and may 
perhaps, continue so to the latest. Did we but reason 
first, and make up our minds upon fair deductions, af- 
terwards, we should be wiser and -Jiappier. But to 
fix a favourite opinion first, and then seek for eviden- 
ces and arguments to support it, is the way of the 
world. Those however, who travel in that way, must 
Hve and die in a state of error and deception, for they 
preclude all the avenues to correct, information ancLra- 
tional conclusion.. 

But to resume our subject. 'We may in the next 
place observe that the several primary families of the 
human kind are distinguishable not only by their com- 
plexions, but by their features likewise ; by their pro- 
pensity of genius ; habits of life ; ideas of religion ; 
languages and manners ; and other general character- 
istics. Some df them adopted the Jaws of civilization 
- at an early period, &nd manifested a genius adapted to 
invention and the arts, and have been constantly pro- 
gressing in scienee to the present time ; while some 
have proceeded more slowly, and others still retaia 
their rude state of ignorance and anarchy. Some have 
conceived and embraced honorary notions of the Deity, 
and consequently of religion ; while others have fallen 
into the greatest absurdities and superstitions. These 
and several- other distinctions of the mental kind that 
still pervade the several grand divisions of the human 
species, all conspire, not only to indicate, but to de- 
monstrate, that they have descended from difTereiBt 
parent stocks. 

These jmmary families, being by the providence -of 



328 



the Creator, placed in distant climates, adapted to their 
constitutions, were, several of them so remotely situ- 
ated from each other, that in the early ages they had, 
no communications. They knew of no other race but 
their own : the rest of the world was to them, alia 
blank, adesart region. Men had not yet instituted 
voyages of discovery nor engaged in commercial exr 
cursions. It is therefore no wonder that the author of 
the history of the Hebrew nation, should suppose the 
race to which he belonged, the only race, at the time 
when Babel was built. His writings however seem to 
be designed, not so much for the transmission of his- 
torical facts, as for the inculcation of religious senti- 
ment, and the homiletica! virtues. As late as Alex- 
ander the Great* the geography of the earth and histo- 
ry of man, were so little understood^ that though it is 
-said of him that he conquered the. whole world and 
wept because he had net another to conquer ; yet it is 
clear that his conquest extended but to a small section 
■of this* and the rest lie had never heard of. Nay as 
late as the discovery of America by Christopher Co- 
lumbus, mamy of Ms friends were afraid that he would 
run his ship oft at the west end of the world, and never 
be able to return, for "they still considered the earth as 
ilat as a trencher. 

Very small are the discoveries of the world and of 
its inhabitants hitherto made, by any people except the . 
Europeans. It is these only who have traversed sea 
and land, and visited every section of it. What geo~ 
graphical improvements itave the Asiatics, Africans, 
orthe native Americans made ? It is the sons of Adam 
who have extended commerce- through the world, who 
have discovered the habitations, customs, laws, genius, 
religion and physiognomy of all nations. The Chi- 
nese, Japanese, Hindoos and a few other of the eas- 
tern nations, have. carried on some little commercial 
intercourse near their own shores, but all their voya- 
gmhave been comparatively short. <None of them aj>~ 



123 



pear to be actuated by any kind of curiosity, to know 
either what the rest of the world, is ; or what it is 
doing. This we may view as a mark of distinction 
among the varieties of mankind. 

GiiXERjiL COMPLEXIONS. 

The Hottentots and Sumatrans, are yellow. The 
Japanese, yellowish. The inhabitants of the great 
peninsula of Morocco who are exposed to the sun and 
wind, tawny; those who are not thus exposed, of a 
straw colour. The Chinese somewhat darker than the 
Europeans. The inhabitants of the central part of 
India and Africa of a jet black - y those at a further re- 
move from the ecliptic, of an olive brown, or c hoco- 
late colour. Several Tartar nations nearly the com- 
plexion of the American Indians, w hich approaches a 
copper colour, others more brown, In the southern 
hemisphere there are no white people at all ; nor indeed 
in any other part of the world any farther than the Eu- 
ropean race lias extended ; arid these become tawny 
under a vertical sun. 

I shall conclude this chapter with an extract from a 
London Monthly Magazine. " A celebrated Gcrmafi 
physician, Professor Blumenbach of Goltcngen, has 
for more than twenty yxars, been forming a collect- 
ion of skulls of all the known nations. In his cabinet 
we see here, the skull of a. New-Zelander, standing 
by that of a Samoj^i ; and there, by the side of a Carib 
one that formerly belonged to an Egyptian: From a 
comparative examination of these various skulls, the 
professor has drawn important results, relative to the 
r ac e s and t ri bes into w hfe h m an kin d a re divide d . A n 
attentive examination of this fine collection almost 
convinces the spectator, that at the beginning there 
must lrave been several original slocks, whence the 
various races of man have sprung*" 
Ax Address to the Advocates of Universal 

C Q N SANGlTNl T Y . 

JOEAR fMTJE&t>$.-+ That all mankind have cte- 



scended from one. parent stock, you have considered aa 
a nece ssary appendage of your faith ; you will of con- 
sequence reprobate the doctrine I have here advanced. 
But give meJea.ve.to enquire, from whence did you 
receive the idea ? From education, no doubt ; and 
not from your bible. For we discover in sacred his- 
tory no foundation for it We are to presume it ori- 
ginated from an erroneous philosophy in the unenlight- 
ened ages of the world. Moses indeed mentions but 
one parent stock, Adam and Eve. He does not how* 
•ever, deny the. existence of others* We cannot but 
observe, that all his details, of creation are general and 
concise ; and that he has been more particular in re-, 
gai;d to the formation of man, than of any other branch, 
of animated nature : and that all his writings appear to 
have been calculated for the peculiar information and; 
benefit of his own nation. It was therefore unneces- 
sary that ho. should have knowledge of the existence of 
any other parent -stock, or, having it, that he should 
communicate it to them. But, he this as it may, in- 
asmuch as neither Mose,s nor any other of the penmen * 
of sacred writ, have interdicted the doctrine we conr 
•ten tl for, no man is bound by the scriptures to believe 
or maintain that all men are descended from one pa- 
rent stock ; but all are left to the free result of their . 
own reason ; to believe in one or more, as to them and . 
every of them, shall appear the most rational upon a 
Ixill investigation of the subject. 

We shall now proceed to the particular description r 
of the several varieties of man. 

The doctrine of universal consanguinity, though, 
sanctioned by ancient tradition ; and inculcated from 
one generation to another, by education, cannot fore- 
ver resist the demonstration of science and reason : bu t, 
sound and philosophical truth, will soon or late gaii* 
the ascendant ; pervade the learned world ; and all 
men of in formation, who view things .with au^un jaun- 
diced eye, ' confess, that all the human species were 



not derived from, one parent stock ; but from several 
original pairs, formed and planted by the Creator^ in. 
the several appropriate regions of the earth. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

TO corroborate our hypothesis, we shall now en- 
ter into a more circumstantial description of the sev- 
eral varieties of the human kind. And as this will 
necessarily lead us into every habitable region of the 
earth, we shall aim, as well at brevity, as perspicuity. 

VARIETY I. — THE ESQUIMAUX. 

^A Compendious description of their country^ person** 
habits , and religion. 

THESE are a people of North America, chiefly 
inhabiting Labrador, between the 50th and 70th de- 
grees of North L/dthude. Their longest day is from 
17 and a half hours, to two months. They generally 
have no fixed abode, but -rove from place to place — 
They are of a different race from the other native A- 
mericans, for as these have no heard, the Esquimaux 
have it so thick and large, that it is difficult to discover 
any features of their faces. They are always well clo- 
thed, for their is nothing to be seen but part of their 
faces and their hands. They have a shn-t made of iho 
guts of fish, with a coat made of bears or birds skins, 
and a cap upon their head In summer they have 
nothing to cover them in the night; and in the win- 
ter lodge together promiscuously in caves. As to 
murder, which is so common among the Indians, it is 
seldom heard of amongst them. A murderer is shun- 
ned and detested by all the tribe. 

It appears from Mr. Heaine's journey in 1771, that 



iS2 



these people extend in the cold regions quite across 
the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean; 
and as far southward as Nootka Sound. They possess 
also the northern Archipelago which consists of four 
principal groups of islands, containing 45 in all ; sit- 
uated between Kamscbatka and the N..W. coast of 
America. They are in stature about a foot below the 
common standard, as few of them being five feet tall, 
as are six among the Indian tribes; but their pel sons 
,are not proportionably slender, being usually pretty 
plump, tho' not muscular. Very few of those in the 
northern Archipelago exceed five feet in height, but 
have strong and robust limbs, free and supple ; all 
have black hair, and these have little beards ; being 
accustomed to pluck them out as the Indians do. — 
They have flattish faces and fair skins ; and some of 
them, according to Mr. Mackenzy, grey eyes. Tho* 
they are called fair and white, and doubtless do approx- 
imate that complexion ; yet by comparing all accounts, 
we are to conclude they are of a dirty white ; without 
the red ground work of the Indian complexion, or the 
fair and lively blush of the European. The Indians 
within land at Hudson's Bay are of the common size 
and a copper colour. The Esquimaux do not appear 
to concern themselves at all about any kind of reli- 
gious rites. 

At Onolaska an island on the W. coast of America, 
situated in latitude 53 north, commences the Esqui- 
maux people, and a,dialeet of their language is spoken, 
but these are pot so diminutive in their size as those 
nearer the pole. These polar nations appear to be a har- 
dy race of men, whom nature, by varying some of their 
properties, has calculated on purpose for these inhos- 
pitable regions. They have a good share of plain, 
natural sense, but are rather slow of understanding. 
GREENL ANDERS. 

Between these and the Esquimau xs, there is a great 
resemblance, in aspect, manners and dress. They are 



133 



short, brawney and inclined to corpulancy, with broad 
faces, flat noses, thick lips, black hair and eyes, and a 
yeliowish tawny complexion. They are for the most 
part vigorous and healthy, but remarkably short lived. 
The Greenlanders have a language peculiar to them- 
selves. They believe in the immortality of the soul, 
and in the existence of a spirit whom they call Torn- 
garsuk, about whom they have formed the most ridic- 
ulous notions. Their Angekuts, or prophets and 
priests, differ from each other in their principles, like 
men of the same craft in more civilized nations. 

Neither the Esquimaux or Greenlanders appeart o 
have so much as one solitary trait or feature, in either 
their persons, manners or religion, that agrees with 
the Indians or the Europeans ; whence we are to con- 
clude that they descended from a parent s.ock pecul* 
iar to themselves. 

LAPLANDERS. 

These arc very low in stature, and remarkable for 
having large heads. They are ;iiso ill shaped, and 
their features harsh They are however, strong hardy 
and robust. They believe their country to be the ter* 
restrial paradise. And nothing can be more enchant- 
ing than such vast prospects of stupendous mountains, 
and precipices, hills, forests, lakes, rivers, Sec. if the 
country was but in a moderate climate. 

The grotesque appearance of the ileavens, indeed, 
in all these polar regions, in their long cold nights, af- 
fords some kind of enchantments to their imaginations. 
Mock suns and halos are not unfrequent ; they arfe ve- 
ry bright and richly tinged with ali the colours of the 
rainbow. The sun rises and sets with a large cone of 
yellowish light ; and the night is enlivened by the Au- 
rora Boreaiis, which, darting into a thousand variega- 
ted figures and colours, enables them to pursue the 
chase. They have in the southern part, in summer, a 
day of a month long, and in the northern of two months. 
Their origin is doubtful, but Lord Karnes has suppo- 

L 



sed thenr of the ?TarteT.Tacc/ The^Daaish^ mis«ior^ 
ries, cannot with their utmost exertions convert them 
to Christianity. 

CHAPTER XlXiv 

VARIETY II— THE TARTAR RACE. 

Compendious description - of their country t fiersvn&y 
habits, and religion . 

THIS race is probably more numerous than the Eu- 
ropean race ; and some of the nations belonging to it r 
have the nearest resemblance of any on earth to the 
race of Adam. The Chinese who are the most polish- 
ed, as well as the most numerous nation of the whole, 
allege that their original progenitor was Poan Kou. 
M^ny of the northern branches of this great family are 
subject to the Emperor of Russia. They possess all 
the eastern part of Asia extending from the Russian 
dominions in Europe* — from Georgia and the Black* 
Sea — and from Hindo stan eastward, and to the islands 
in the Chinesian Sea — including also the great penin- 
sula of Malacca, otherwise called the further peninsu* 
ia pf India. 

They inhabit a country in Asia, according to BufTon, 
of 1200 leagues and upwards ; and of more than 750 
broad, comprehending 1 6 1 degrees of longitude And 
his description of their persons, is, in substance this, 
^ Their faces are long and wrinkled even from their 
youth, their noses thick and compressed, their eyes 
small and sunk ; their cheeks very much raised ; their 
upper jaw low ; their teeth long and disunited ; eye- 
brows sp thiak that they shade their eyes ; the eyelids 
thick, some bristles on their face instead of beard ; large 
thighs and small legs." 

Thouglwe may consider this description applicable 



135 



to the generality of the northern tribes, yet it is liable 
to several exceptions. Their complexions generally 
■ Agree with that ©f the natives of America. But Tar- 
tary consists of a number of nations, the Samoyedes, 
the Korians, the Kamschadales, the Kalmues, the Ton- 
gusians, the Moguls, the Thibetians, and the Chinese ; 
some of which are very large and populous The same 
race occupy all the peninsula of India beyond the Gan- 
ges, which contains eleven extensive kingdoms. tIz : 
Aracan, Assam, Burmah, Cambodia, Ciampa, Ccch- 
in-China, Laos, Malacca, Pegu, Siam and Tonquin : 
And are much diffused on the coasts of the islands of 
the eastern Archipelago. 

The Tartars are in general strong stout mace mr r. : 
their faces broad, their noses flattish, their eyes small, 
black and very quick, their beards scarcely visible, <.s 
they continually thin them by pulling up the hair by 
the roots. 

Their religion commonly resembles that of their 
government, and is commonly accommodated to tKat 
of their neighbors ; for it partakes of the Mahometan, 
the Gentoo, the Greek, end even of the Popish rrii- 
e;ion. But the religion and government of the king- 
dom of Thibet and Lassa, a large tract of Tartary bor- 
dering on China, is the most remarkable. These 
-people being governed by the grand Lama, who is not 
only submitted to and adored by them, but is also the 
great object of adoration for the various tribes of hea- 
then Tartars who roam through the vast tract of con- 
tinent which stretches from the banks of the Wolga 
-to Corea on the sea of Japan. 

The Sfunoyede* occupy a country extending from the 
65th deg. of N. kit. to the frozen sea. In stature they 
are scarcely of a middling size. They seem all of a 
heap ; have short legs, small neck, large head, Hat nose 
and face, with the lower part of the face projecting 
outwards, large mouth and cars,' little black eyes> wide 
■eye-lids, small lips and little feet. 



136 



The Koriaks, the Kamtschadales, the Tongusians, 
the Lanrouts and the Tchonktsches, inhabiting the 
northeast part of Asia, differ but little from the Sa- 
moyedes already described. 

The Kalmuc's are of a middling stature ; their vis- 
&ge is so fiat that the skull ol a Kalmuc may be easily 
"known from that of any other nation. Their eyes are 
small and black ; thick lips, small nose, short chin, 
beard scanty, teeth even and white, complexions a 
r'edish brown, ears large and prominent and hair black. 

The Mogul country, or western Chinese Tartary, 
is a country of great extent, and so also is Thibet or 
eastern Tartary.. The inhabitants differ little in their 
pi rssns from those, already described, except that the 
Thibelians are in a hi a- her state of civilization. 
CHINA 

is an extensive empire, and by far the most populous 
M 'any on earth, it is 2000 miles from north to south, 
•.ami 150O from east to west. It is divided into 1-5 pro- 
vinces, which contain 4402 walled cities. • It is in 
j/en oral a plain and level country, with few moun ruins, 
of any note, but the rivers are very numerous rml 
considerable, and they have canals of great depth ex- 
pending in some places 1000 miles in length, they are 
furnished with stone quays and sometimes with bridges 
of a surprising construction. Their vessels are fitted 
with all the conveniences of life, and it has been sup- 
posed that the empire of China contains as many in- 
habitants by water as by land. According to the latest 
end best computation, China contains 220 millions of 
people ; a population which exceeds the amount of all 
Europe. 

Persons. The complexion of the Chinese is a sort 
of tawny, and they have large foreheads, high eye- 
brows, small black narrow eyes, thick short noses, 
broad faces, hair universally black and strong, large 
ears, and thin long beards. The women affect a great 
deal of modesty and are remarkable for their little feet ? 



they have plump rosy Hps, regular features and a deli- 
cate though florid complexion. 

While among the race of Adam, the great nations 
of antiquity have arisen to eminence, flourished in 
glory, and sunk, long since, into obscurity, China has 
still been permanent ; the duration of this empire has 
been about 4000 years, with some small alterations, 
they still remain the same—their laws, manners vnd 
customs unaltered. Enterprise is the characteristic 
of the European race, and steady habits of the Tartar 
race 

The persons of the Japanese and of those nations on 
the peninsula of Malacca differ little from the Chinese 
and others of the Tartar race. 

In China they have a variety of religions ; but since 
the productions of their celebrated philosopher Confu- 
cius, the religion of the literati has become that of a 
pure morality They have no temples nor stated pla~ 
ces of worship, but worship God by a deep inward ven- 
eration, unincumbered with the machinations of priest- 
craft. 

The line of demarkation between the Tartars and 
Europeans, in the north, is the Black Sea, the strait 
of Caffa and sea of Asoph. The nations settled be- 
tween the Black and Caspain sea and about mount 
Caucasus, have a greater resemblance to the Europe- 
ans, than those of any other country of Tartary. These 
mountains are inhabited by seven distinct nations ; each 
speaking a different language, -viz : the Turromam-, 
the Abkhas, the Circassians, the Ossi, the Kisti, the 
Lesccuis, and the Georgians. They have fine com- 
plexions, black eyes and black hair. The women are~ 
beautiful. 

The Turks are descended from the Turcomans, who 
speak a direct of the Tartar language. They sit, eat 
and sleej* according to the custom of the east, on so- 
phas or cushions, matresses and carpets The Turks 
use no unnecessary words, whereas the-G reeks- talk in.- 

L2 



1138 

cessantly. Though these two nations are born under 
one climate, yet their tempers are more different than 
those of men living in the most distant countries. An 
uniformity rims through all the actions of the Turks 
and they never change their manner of living They 
seem to have no kind of genius for the arts and scien- 
ces, tho' they live under the influence of the same hea- 
ven and possess the same countries as the ancient 
^Grecians did : and though they herd together, you 
will observe as little conversation among them, as a- 
mong so many horses in a stable. They manifest little 
or no curiosity to discover the state of their own or any 
other country. These as well as many other singu- 
larities, which we have not room here to mention, 
serve to shew that they were derived from a different 
parent stock. Their religion is Mahometanism. 

The Tartar race haVe, universally black eyes, which 
are small and very quick, lank black haiiy very scanty 
beards and short thick noses. 

CHAPTER XX, 

SVARflETY IK — THE GT-fiNTOO RACE. 

HINDOOSTAN or India is a celebrated country of 
*&sia. The .natives are called Hindoos or Gentoos, 
They are in their persons straight and elegant, their 
limbs are finely proportioned, "the ir fingers long and 
tapering, their countenances open & nd pleasant, their 
complexion their hair long, bl \cfc and lank, and 

their eyes black, their features exhibit the mostele- 
r gant lines of beauty in the females, and m males a 
manly kind of softness. Their walk and fjM** & s well 
as their whole deportment is, in the hi. ^hmt degree 
graceful. In politeness, in address and in Speech* an 
Indian is as much superior to a l>cn.chi»an f^skion, 



139 



as a French courtier is to a Dutch Burgomaster of Dort. 
They have preserved their identity as a people from 
an unknown antiquity, for their religion prevents their 
emigration, and in no case permits them to marry out 
of their cast. 

According to Mr. Orme, the inhabitants of Hindoos- 
tan are computed at ten millions of Mahometans, and 
one hundred millions of Hindoos. That their country 
was exceedingly populous at an early period we learn 
from ancient history : for very soon after the building 
of Babylon and Nineveh, Semiramis, the widow of 
Ninus the son of Nimrod, invaded their country with 
an innumerable army and was repulsed with great 
loss. 

The Hindoos differ materially from all other nations 
in the peculiarities of their religion and government, 
and in being divided into casts. The four principal 
tribes are the Bramrns, Soldiers, Labourers and Me- 
chanics, and these are subdivided into a multiplicity 
of inferior distinctions. The members of each cast ad- 
here invariably to the cast and profession of their fore- 
fathers, from generation to generation the same fam- 
ilies have followed, and will continue to follow one 
uniform line of life. The Hindoos vie with the Chi- 
nese, in respect to the antiquity of their nation, but 
are not equally fortunate in being able to substantiate 
it from authentic records. We see no cause however 
to doubt of their national antiquity, but oh the contrary, 
from the singularity and pertinacity of their manners 
are strongly impressed with the idea, that tlvey are a 
peculiar race of man, descended from a parent stock 
different from all others ; to whom the creator gave 
primary existence in the same country : and who have 
preserved their identity both in persons and manners, 
without mixture, from the highest periods of human 
existence. Also that they are clearly distinguishable 
from all the other human families; and afford to the 
-ccntcir.p! stive mind, ample demonstration, tnat the 



140 



creator formed at first more than *one parent stock of 
the human species. 

The Hindoos believe in the immortality of the soul, 
and a future state of rewards and punishments, which 
is to consist of a transmigration of the soul into differ- 
ent bodies, in which state they are to be happy or mis- 
erable according to the lives they lead in the present 
state. Almost all the nations of the east, believe also, 
in this doctrine as the most important article of their 
faith, (except the Mahometans) in particular the Hin- 
, doos, the people of Thibet and Ava, the Peguins, : the 
Banians, the; greater part of the Chinese, Japanese, 
Siamese, Moguls and Kalrnucs. * According to which 
doctrine the soul is always in action and never at rest, 
for no sooner does it abandon its present tenement than 
it enters a new one. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

VARIETY IV.— THE MOORS. 

Compefidious description of their countryy persons, ha- 
bits and religion. 

THAT Egypt, which comprehends the north east 
part of Africa, was primarily settled by a detach- 
ment of Noah's posterity, led thither by Mizriam the 
grandson of Ham, at an early period, we learn from 
Moses. And that the inhabitants along the coast of 
the Mediterranean, at present, are Arabs of the 
same stock, intermixed with Moors, we have un- 
doubted authorities to substantiate : as is also a great 
part of the present population of Egypt, and the 
coasts of the red sea ; but intermixed with these, are 
many Turks and Moors. But of the origin of the 
rest of the Africans we can make no discovery. W e 



i 



must therefore believe that the Moors and Negroes 
were created in Africa. 

That the present marks of discrimination between 
the Moors and Negroes have existed from the day of 
creation, we can see no grounds for a doubt. That 
they have been distinct, not only from one another, but 
from every other race of the species, from very fcigh 
antiquity* appears from Herodotus, the first Writer 
of profane history. He divides the native Africans 
into two races, (excepting at the same time, the Car- 
thagenians, Cyreneans, and other colonies from Phae-* 
nicia and Greece) which he designates by the names of 
Africans and Ethiopians : One of which possessed the 
northern and the ether the Southern part of Africa. 
By these distinctions is evidently intended the Moors' 
and the Negroes, which classes still continue distinct, 
and apparently have net greatly varied their ancient 
limits. The account which Herodotus received from 
the Nasamc-nees concerning the Ethiopians, perfectly 
agrees with the accounts of our late European travel- 
lers from that quarter, concerning the JVtahdfngd Ne- 
groes, that strangers were humanely and kindly treat- 
ed by them : but this hospitality is by np iaea!*s a tritit 
of the Moorish character. 

The boundary between the Moors and Negroes, was, 
according to Herodotus, the Great Desart. This is 
srill the same in some degree; for though the Moors 
have been driven- to the southward by the Arabs, yet 
the north, as we leant by Mr. Parke the traveller, is 
still looked upon by them as their native country. 

Of the expulsion of the Moors from the coast of Bur- 
bary, nothing seems to be. known but what has been 
related by John Leo the Afucan. He states that " be- 
fore the Arabian conquest in the 7th century, the 
whole of the inhabitants of the continent of Africa, 
then known were generally called Mauri or Moors. 
That all the people were converted to Mahomctanism 
during the reign of the Califs. That many of the No- 



142 



midian tribes retired southward, across the Great 
Desart to avoid the fury of the Arabians ; and one of 
them discovered the Negro nations on the Niger, by 
which is supposed to be meant the Senegal?' 

-Respecting the origin of the Moors and Negroes, we 
are not left merely to conjecture. For in all history 
sacred and profane, we meet with mention of the 
Ethiopians. The earliest histories have recognized 
them the same as at present, and of the same hue. 
' Semiramis made an expedition into Ethiopia and con- 
quered apart of it. This was about three hundred 
years after Noah's flood, and about four thousand years 
ago. Had they descended from Noah, we cannot 
think it possible that they should have acquired that 
black hue in so short a time, for the Arabs- and Egypt- 
ians have become only tawny in more than three thou- 
sand years. We are therefore to conclude they were 
, originally black or nearly so : and that they sprung 
from parent stocks peculiar to themselves ; and near to 
the country they now inhabit. 

Mental, Discriminations. One great and obvi- 
ous fact recorded in the history of Africa, ancient and 
modern, is, that the native Africans are considerably 
inferior in point of understanding to the Asiatics and 
very far below the Europeans. They have in all ages 
been barbarians, and even savages : their thoughts and 
sentiments extending but little beyond animal life. 
The Moors have been uniformly distinguished for 
tricks, petty fends, and thefts, and other vices inci- 
dent to despicable understandings. Since their adop- 
tion of the Mahometan superstition and fanaticism, 
they have added to these indigenous vices, bigotry, 
cruelty and intolerance. 

The dominion of ihe Moors extends from west to 
east in a broad belt, from the mouth of Senegal to the 
Red Sea, three thousand five hundred miles ; and from 
the Great Desart to the river Niger. They are a subt- 
le an c] ..treacherous race of people, and take every op- 



143 



portunity of bheatingrand pju»d^rin^ the unsuspecting 
Negroes. In some of their countries they resemble 
the Mulattoes of the West-Indies, for- their blood is 
often mixed with that of the Negroes. But in other 
parts., though the Moors are. equally black (according 
to the climate) they have. nothing of the negro cast. 

They possess seversl very extensive kingdoms, viz : 
Morocco, Fezzam. Bornou, Nuba, Cashn.a, ZampJiA- 
ra, and Abyssinia.; but theserlast are not Mahometans ; 
they are tall and well made, complexions nearly blacky 
features well proportioned, eyes large and of a spark- 
ling, black, lips thin, nose rather high ; their religion 
a , mixture of Judaism, Paganism and Christianity, 
From this country went the queen of Shebe on a visit 
to king Solomon,, who gave her of the royal bounty, in. 
consequence of which, she brought forth a son, from 
whom the present royal family descended.. 

The Moors are distinguished from the races . of 
Adam and Poan Kou by their complexion, features 
and modes of thinking ; from the negroes by having 
hair instead of wool; by being more religious and : 
more cruel, and by a different physiognomy ; from the 
Gentoos by their, natural ferocity, habits, savagism 
and local situation. They therefore are, as we con- 
ceive, of an origin distinct from all other nations 

AU the Mahometan Moors, which includes the 
whole perhaps, except the Abyssinians, find in the 
same person a priest and a schoolmaste r. They make . 
use of the Arabic character. The utmost extent of 
their learning is only to read and write : and it is 
contrary to their religious principles, to read any 
other bookthan the Alcoran, and commentaries upon 
it : so that they are, by their religion, precluded 
from every kind of useful knowledge ; the natural 
consequences of ^liich arc, barbaui^mp superstition 
and intolerance. 



144 



CHAPTER XXII. 

VARIETY V._ NEGROES OF AFRICA. 

A Compendious description of their country, persons, 
habits, and religion. 

AFRICA, one of the four principal parts of the world 
is a peninsula of prodigious extent. Its greatest 
length from the most northern part to the Cape of Good 
Hope is 4600 miles ; and in the broadest part from 
Cape Verd to Cape Guardafui is 3500. We have al- 
ready taken a view of the inhabitants of the northern 
part of it, and our further observations will respect on- 
ly the inhabitants of the central and southern parts, -viz : 
those who inhabit from the tropic of Cancer to the 
Cape of Good Hope, which are the Negro nations ; 
the principal kingdoms of which are, Guinea, Loango, 
Congo, Angola, Malemba, Benpula, Mataman, Caf- 
fraria, the Hottentots, Monomotapa, Monommuai, 
Sofola, and Zanguabar. 

The Negroes of Africa have frizzled hair ; broad flat 
noses, thick lips : those between the tropics are of a 
jet black colour ; which gradually fades as you go fur- 
ther from the equator either northward or southward, 
though the woolly hair still continues the same ; they 
have large beards, teeth as white as ivory, and gene- 
rally large eyes, the whites of which are frequently 
marked with reddish streaks. Those of Guinea and 
the western coast are extremely ugly, and emit a very 
disagreeable effluvia ; those of Mozambique and the 
eastern coast, are free from this disagreeable odour. 

The Negroes are at best but half civilized ; they 
have some large towns in which civil government is in 
some ;neasure attended to. They have innumerable 
villages. The ferocious animals with which the coun- 
try abounds, make it absolutely necessary that all their 
villages as well as towns should be walled, they would 



145 



Se every moment* otherwise,, exposed to be torn to 
pieces and devoured. Their walls are all made of mud 
and generally just barely sufficient to afford them good 
security. Many Africans, especially about the moun- 
tains are still in a state of savagism. 

In 1788 an association was formed in England for 
the purpose of exploring the interior regions of Afri- 
ca : and Mr % Ledyard and Mr. Lucas were selected 'as 
their missionaries. Mr. Ledyard died on his journey. 
Mr. Lucas was prevented from pursuing the plan 
sketched out for him ; and was obliged to content him- 
self with such imperfect information as his guides 
could give him. In 1795 the African association dis- 
patched Mr. Parke to explore this immense continent. 
His journey has brought to oui knowledge more im- 
portant facts respecting the geography ofc Africa, than 
the accounts of any former traveller. He has pointed 
out to us the sources of the great rivers, the Seneg J, 
Gambia and Niger. He has also given us the char- 
acter of the natives. 

There is not a people on earth that live more at 
their ease than the Negroes ; their country where it 
is sufficiently watered is exceedingly' fertile, aridt n 
many places- luxurient : in some countries they have 
three crops in a year ; their clothing is of but little ex- 
pense ; some travellers have said that 30 days' work 
10 the year will support a family in pro visions. Their 
dispositions are naturally of a careless easy turn, and 
they take peculiar satisfaction in music and dancing. 
To pass away their time agreeably, they assemble 
sometimes at one house and sometimes at another, and 
dance the greater part of the night ; and sleep in the 
day time : some have supposed they dance the greatest 
part of their time. They are strangers to qare and 
not friendly to industry, possess little enterprise, cul* 
tivate no science, use few urts, and embrace no reli- 
gion In this respect however, we must pronounce 
them wiser and better than their Moorish neighbours,, 

M 



146 



or indeed any other people, whose dogmas prompt 
them to intolerance and persecution. 

Government among the negro nations, is hereditary 
and monarchical. But the power of their kings is ve* 
ry limited. Thej receive no revenue, and have no 
troops at command. The king's chief prerogative 
consists in taking as many wives as he pleases ; #n ha- 
ing a larger portion of ground to cultivate, and a grea- 
ter number of cattle to tend and feed. His cabin is 
neither higher, nor better decorated than the rest, and 
his family around him compose a group of twelve or 
fifteen huts. 

HOTTENTOTS. 
These possess an extensive region in the southern 
extremity of Africa, lying between the tropic of Can- 
cer and the 35th deg. of S. latitude. These people are 
as tall as most Europeans, but are more slender, and 
the characteristic mark of this nation is, the smallne&s 
of their hands and feet, compared with the other parts 
of the body. They have extremely broad nostrils -that 
rise above the ridge of the nose, which does not exceed 
half an inch in height. Their skin is of a yellowish 
brown hue, resembling that of a European w ho has 
the jaundice in a high degree. There are not such 
thick lips among them as among th«ir neighbours the 
Caffres and Mozambiques ; and their mouth is of the 
middling size, with the finest set of teeth imaginable. 
Their heads are covered with hair more woolly, if 
possible than that of the negroes, and equally black. 
With respect to shape, carriage and every motion, 
the whole appearance indicates health and content. In 
their mein. moreover, a degree of carelessness is ob- 
servable that discovers marks of alacrity and resolu- 
tion ; qualities, which upon occasions they exhibit. 
Both men and women are clothed with sheep skins, 
the wool being worn outwards in summer, and inwards 
jn winter. 

yive Hottentots are by no means numerous. Their 



government and religion are much like those of the ne- 
groes, except some lew about the Cape who have been^ 
recently, in some measure, christianized by Europe- 
an missionaries. 

Enough, we presume, has already been said, to 
convince the reader that the negro race constitutes a 
distinct variety of man : yet notwithstanding ail their 
disagreeable appearances, singular modes of thinking 
and disgustful peculiarities, hew many of the delicate 
and polite — of the proud and dressy sons of Europe, 
rather than admit the existence of more than one pi- 
rent stock, do virtually claim a blood relation to them. 
WHITE AFRICANS. 

" There is in the central part of Africa a race o? 
small men as white as chalk, with faces formed like 
those of the negroes, and eyes as round as those of a 
partridge." 

WHITE AMERICANS. 
In the isthmus of Dai ien, a singular race of white' 
men has been discovered, they are of a low stature oi 
a feeble make, and incapable of enduring fatigue. 
Their colour that of a dead milk white, not resem- 
i :':ng that oi fair people among the Europeans, bn: f - 
without a blush or sanguine complexion : their skin 
is covered with a fine hairy down of a chalky white : 
the hair of their heads their eye-brows and eye-lashes- 
of the same hue : their eyes are of a singular foi;m, 
and so weak th .a they can scarcely bear the light of the 
siln ; and sec best by moon light ; from which they 
are called moon- light Indians. They have large weal; 
blue eyes. 

Th.it such perrons should be descended from the 
Indian race is hardly suppos'ablc : but if they are of a 
different origin, it seems, their race has not been pro- 
lific. 

I know of no reason why we may not as well believe 
the creative power formed several original stocks of 
men as of quadrupeds. He formeel of the cat' 



kind, from the Lion to the House^Cal^of the dog** 
kind, from the Wolf to the Lap -dot*— of the deer- 
kind, from the Moose of 11 feet high, to the African 
Koe of 2 feet high — of the ape -kind, from the Ou- 
ran- Outang of 7 feet high, to the little Ape of but 
18 inches, &c Sec. And no species is without its va* 
rieties. Why then mankind ? 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
VARIETY VI. 
Genital dcccrifiticn rf the American Indians* 

"THE AMllIUCAX IjVD IAX8 are naturally cf& 
colour bovdei ifrg upon red : their frequent exposuve to 
the sun and wind, changes it to their ordinary hue* 
The temperature of the air appears to have little or no 
Influence in this respect. There is no perceptible dif- 
ference in the complexion, between the inhabitants of 
the low and the high parts of Peru. Yet the cli- 
mates are extremely different. Nay, the Indians who 
live as far as 40 decrees and upwards, south or north 
of the equator, are not to be distinguished in point of 
colour, from those immediately under it. 

There also is a general conformation of features and 
persons, which more or less characterizes them ail. 
Their chief distinctions in this respect, is a smartness 
of forehead, partly covere d with hair to the eye-brows ; 
little black eyes, the nose thin, pointed, and bent to- 
wards the upper lip, a broad face, pretty high cheek 
bones, large ears, hair black coarse and lank, the legs 
well formed, the feet small, the body thick and mus- 
cular, little or no beard on the face, and that never 
extended beyond a small part of the chin and upper 
and little or no l^ai? on any part of the body or 



{0 

limbs. The resemblance among the American tribes, 
in respect to their genius, character, manners and pe- 
culiar customs, is nearly, uniform. The most distant 
tribes are in this respect as similar as though they for- 
med but one nation.* The whole race is distinguished 
by hardness of skin and of fibres ; circumstances which 
probably "contribute to that insensibility of bodily pain, 
for which they are remarkable beyond any other people. 
Description of the MEXICANS. 
The following description of the Mexicans, wc have 
from Clavigero. u They generally exceed, rather than 
fall under the middle size, and are well proportioned 
in all their limbs. They have good complexions, nar- 
row foreheads, black eyes ; clean, firm, w hite and regu- 
lar teeth ; thick, black, coarse grossly hair ; thin beards, 
and generally, no hair upon their legs, thighs or arms ; 
their skin being of an olive colour. There is scarcely 
a nation on earth, in which there are fewer persons 
deformed ; and it would be more difficult to find a sin- 
gle hump-backed, lame or squint-eyed man, among a 
thousand Mexicans, than among an hundred of any 
other nation. The unpleasantness of their colour, the 
smallness of their foreheads, the thinness of tfieiV 
beards, and the coarseness, of their hair, arc so far 
compensated by the regularity and hue proportion of 
their limbs, that they can neither be called very beau- 
tiful, nor on the contrary ; but seem to hold a middle 
place between the extremes. Their appearance nei- 
ther cngag-es nor disgusts, but among the young wo- 
men of Mexico, there are inany beautiful ecjtd fair, 
whose beauty is, at the same time, rendered move win- 
nim:, by the natural sweetness of their manner ofipeak^ 
i|ig ; and Dy the j>leas?mUier>s and natural modesty of 
tjieij' whole behaviour. 

Their senses are very acute & p jcially that of tfightr; 
which ilrey enjoy unimpaired, to the barest age . Their 

'* Don Anto. Unas a 



constitutions tir e sound and their hearth robust. They 
are entirely free from many disorders that are common 
among the Spaniards : But to the epidemic diseases, 
to which their country is occasionally subject, they 
are generally the victims : with them these diseases 
begin and with them they end. One never peceives 
in a Mexican that stinking breath, which is occasioned 
in other people by the corruption of humours or indi- 
gestion, Their constitutions are phlegmatic, but the 
pituitous evacuations from the head are very scanty, 
and they seldom spit. They become grey-headed and 
bald, earlier than the Spaniards : and, though most of 
them die of acu^e diseases, it is not very uncommon 
among them to attain to the age of an hundred. They 
are moderate in eating, but their passion for strong* 
liquor is carried to the greatest excess. 

Their minds are affected by the same variety of pas- 
sions with those of other nations, but not to an equal 
degree. The Mexicans seldom exhibit those trans- 
ports of anger, or fer vours of love, which are common 
to those of other countries. They are slow in their 
motions, and shew a w onderful tenacity and steadiness 
in their works which re -mire time, and long continued 
attention. They are most patient of injury and hard- 
ship ; and where they suspect no evil intention, arc 
most grateful for any kindness shown. The habitual 
distrust they entertain of any that are not of their na- 
tion, prompts them often to lie and betray ; so that 
good faith, has certainly, not been respected among 
them as much as it deserves. They are by nature 
l&riuiir), serious and austere, and shew more anxiety 
! ^ f ! h i rlmes than reward virtue. Generosity and 
ncvu :t disinterestedness are the principal traits in 
>l -i". ! aractex. The respect paid by the young peo- 
ple to the .old, and by children to their parents seem to 
be the feeliners that are born with them Parents are 
very fond of their children ; but the affection which 
laisbands bear to their wives, is certainly less than. 



151 



that which wives bear to their husbands ; and it is very 
common for the men to love their neighbors wives bet- 
ter than their own. 

PERUVIANS. 

The Peruvian Indians, both men and women, are 
low of stature, though strong and well proportioned, 
But more natural defects are to be found among them, 
than in any of the rest. Some are remarkably short ; 
some ideots, dumb or blind. Their hair is generally 
thick, long and of a deep black, it is lank, harsh, and 
as coarse as that of a horse : they wear it loose on the 
shoulders, but the Indian women plait theirs behind 
with a ribband ; and cut that before a little above the 
eye-brows, from one ear to the other. The greatest 
disgrace that can be offered to an Indian of either sex, 
is to cut offtheir hair ; for whatever corporeal punish- 
ment their masters think fit to inflict on them, they 
bear with patience ; but this affront they never forgive : 
.and, accordingly government has interposed and lim- 
ited this punishment to the most enormous crimes." 

The government of the United States has. since the 
year 1900, sent among- the Creeks and other Iiidiah 
tribes within its territories, and at its own expence, 
several mechanics and farmers, with all the necessary 
materials, to instruct them in the arts of agriculture ; 
of the wheel and the loom. The mission has been as 
tended with great success ; and many of them begin 
to be husbandmen, and are fast improving in the more 
necessary arts of social life. 

GOVERNMENT. 

There is established in each society a certain species 
of government, which over the whole continent of A- 
merica prevails with exceeding little variation, because 
over the whole of this continent the manners and way 
ef life are nearly similar, and uniform. The form of 
government is either a species of monarchy or aristoc- 
racy. The power of the monarch, however, in the 
one, as well as ef the elders in the other, (except Mex- 



152 



ico six! disco) is rather persuasive than coercive It 
is age which teaches experience : and experience is 
the only source of knowledge among a barbarous peo- 
ple. Among; this people business is conducted with 
the utmost' simplicity, and which may recai to the 
minds of those who are acquainted with antiquity the 
picture of the ' most early ages. 

The heads of families meet together in a house or 
cabin appointed for the purpose. Here the business 
is discussed: and here, those of the nation distin- 
guished for eloquence or wisdom, have an opportunity 
of displaying those talents. Their orators express 
themselves in a bold figurative style, stronger than 
more refined nations can well bear ; and with gestures 
extremely violent, but often natural and expressive. 
When the business is over and they happen to be well 
provided with food, they appoint a feast upon the oc- 
casion, of which almost the whole nation partakes. 
The feast is accompanied with a song, in which the 
real or fabulous exploits of their forefathers are cele- 
brated ; and their music and dancing accompany eve- 
ry feast. This is the prelude of war : and commonly 
of hunting parties. 

RELIGION 
Mango Capac, the founder of the Perm ian empire, 
was one of those uncommon geniuses, who, calm and 
dispassionate themselves, can observe the passions of 
other men, and. turn them to their own profit and glo- 
ry. He had observed that the people of Peru were 
naturally superstitious, and bad a particular veneration 
for the sun. He pretended therefore to be descended 
from that Luminary, whose worship he was enjoined 
to establish and whose authority he was entitled to bear. 
By this story romantic as it may appear to us, he easily 
deceived a credulous people, and brought a large extent 
of territory under his jurisdiction ; a larger still sub- 
dued by his arms ; but both the force and the deceit 
he employed for the most laudable purppses. He uni- 



ted and civilized the distressed barbaraas people ; he 
bent them to laws and arms ; and softened them by tbe 
institution of a benevolent religion ; in short there was 
no part ot America where agriculture and the arts wer* 
so assiduously cultivated ; and where the people were 
of so mild and ingenuous manners, A race ef princes 
succeeded M ango, distinguished by the titlesof Yncas 
and revered by the people as the descendants of their 
great God the sun, The twelfth of these was on the 
throne, named Atabalapa, when Pizarro advanced to 
the conquest of Cusco, the capital of the Peruvian 
empire. Prophets, as in all other nations, had gamed 
an ascendancy over the minds- of the people, and the 
ominous predictions of religion, came in as auxiliaries 
to human turpitude, and completed the calamities of 
the naiion. Little more can be said of the religion of 
the Peruvians, for it has made little progress since. 
The Mexicans v ere at the same time a powerful em* 
pi re. and had a religion partly established, wherein 
the stm e re moon wete deified : many particuk is re- 
Liti to this religion and their priests ha\e teen de- 
tailed, but with how much correctness is very uncertain. 
The northern Indians have entertained some supersti- 
tious notions eoncernirtg spirits, apparitions and the 
state of the dead. They imagine that when they die, 
they go into a country far distant in the south\ve c t. and 
their dogs with them, where they shall hunt white deer 
and fare sumptuously everyday. Many attempts have 
been made to inculcate the doctrines of chris-.Lnity 
among them ; these have succeeded sometimes Aery 
well for a while ; but none of their conversions have 
been of any long duration ; these doctrines seem un- 
congenial to them. 

P.iTAGOmAJsS. 
Havihg previously given a description of the Esqui- 
maux who inhabit the arctic regions of America, we 
shall now take a look at those on the southern extrem- 
ity of the continent, which is about the 54th deg. of ft. 



1 : 54'-' 

latitude ; and called Patagonia. This race of men 
long afforded a subject of controversy to be learned. 
The first accounts brought to Europe of them, was by 
the companions of Magellan, who described them as a 
gigantic race, above eight feet high -and of strength in 
proportion to their size. Captain Wallis landed there 
in 1766 and having purposely provided himself with 
measuring rods, found that the tallest man among 
them measured only six feet seven inches high, sev- 
eral were within an inch or two as tall ; but the ordina- 
ry size was from five feet ten inches to six feet. Those 
seen by Commodore Bryon were painted round both 
eyes, no two of them alike ; those seen by capt. Wal- 
lis had only a red circle round the left eye ; those seen 
by Bogainviile had no circle round their eyes, but had 
their cheeks painted red ; their colour is a kind of 
bronze, Another very remarkable particular is, that 
t^iey had none of the characters of a ferocious people, 
there was no offensive weapons among them, except a 
scimitar. They have no other clothing than skinsj 
which they wear with the hair inward, and a piece of 
leather covers their private parts. 

TERRA DEL FURGQ. 
Under this name are comprehended several islands* 
at the southern extremity of America. They take 
their name from a Volcano on the largest of them, they 
are all very barren and mountainous. The natives are 
short in their persons,noi exceeding five feet six inches 
at most : their heads large, their faces broad, their 
eheek bones very prominent, ai d their noses very flat. 
They have little brown eye s f without life ; their 
hair is black arid lank ; hanging about their heads in 
disorder, and besmeared with train oil. Oh the chin 
they have a few straggling short hairs instead of beard ; 
and from their nose there is a constant discharge of 
mucus into their ugly open mouth. The whole as- 
semblage of their features forms the most loathsome 
sactu re of misery and wretchedness to which human 



155 



-nature can possibly be reduced. Those which Mr. 
Foster saw, had no other clothing than a small piece 
of seal skin, which hung from the shoulders to the 
middle of the back, being fastened round the neck 
with a string. The r est of their body was perfectly na- 
ked, not the least regard being paid to what the Euro- 
peans would term indecency. Their natural colour 
seems to be an olive brown, resembling that of cop- 
per ; but many of them disguise themselves with 
streaks of red paint, and sometimes (though seldom,) 
w r ith white. They have no other arms than bows and 
arrows, and their instruments for fishing are a kind of 
gigs. Their whole character is a composition of ig~ 
norance, stupidity, indifference and inactivity. There 
is no appearance of any kind of subordination among 
them, and their mode of life approaches nearer to that 
of brutes, than that of any other species of beings. 

The Indian species of America were vastly more 
numerous three hundred years ago than at present. 
The Spaniards in their first irruption and conquests de- 
stroyed them without mercy. Their object was gold ; 
and the natives fell victims to their avarice. They 
butchered them by hundreds and thousands upon the 
smallest pretext and frequently without any real provo- 
cation at all. Besides the massacres on the continent, 
it is said they killed a million on the Isiand of St. Do- 
mingo. Theirtastes and habits are not calculated for 
any intercourse with the European species ; they de- 
crease very rapidly when in the vicinity of them ; ma- 
ny of them destroy their own lives, and the lives of 
others of their nation, as also of their offspring ; by 
the unhappy effects of intoxication. And those who 
escape the venom of this^ retire back from the settle- 
ments of the European r ace, into the wilderness. 

This people occupied all the American islands ore 
both sides of the continent formerly) though at the 
present day they possess very few on the Atlantic side, 
'<They have, but by what means, is unknown, extend* 



156 



ed themselves to mmy tehm&s in Ifoe Paeifk ocean* 
some of which are at a great distance westerly from 
the continent, and many of them are full of people. 
And also to aft the islands of the Southern Pacific, lyr 
jsg to the west of the meridian of the New Hebrides ; 
at which place begins the woolly headed race of New- 
Holland and the neighboring istes* in longitude east 
170 degrees. 

The principal islands they possess in the Pacific are 
The Sandwich Islands, 1 1? in number... Inhabitants 400- 
000 ..Situated from 18 to 22 N. lat. 150 W. Ion, 

Tumago. U S. lat. 177 W. Ion, 

Danger Islands or Solo- > 

mon's Islands, three in 1 10 to 1 5 S. 1 70 W. k>rh 

number. J 
Friendly Islands, 20 in > 2Q g m w fo 

number. y 
Oheteroa, 22 S, 160 W. ion. 

Society Islands, 7 in 1 

number, (of which Ota- V 16 to 1 3 S lat. 1 60 W« lo#. 

heita is one.) J 
New-Zealand. 34 to 38 S. 170 E. Ion. 

There are in that vast extent of wafer many other 
islands which have bee** discovered, and probably ma- 
ny yet undiscovered ; of many of those that have been 
discovered, the discoverers have been able to give but 
little information, but we may remark, that all, with- 
out exception, appear to be one &ort of people, and 
every way resemble the natives of the American con- 
tinent. The writer of Capt. Cook's voyages has rep- 
resented the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands as 
very similar to the New-Zelanders, although their sit- 
uations are more remote from each other, than any 
other two of these Islands. They however appear to 
be in a higher state of civilization than the New-Ze* 
landers. 

O.taheita, situated in \ 8 deg. S. lat. and 1 50 W. Ion. 
is the station Capt, Cook assumed in J 796, to observe 



157 



the transit of Venus ; he sailed round the island in a 
boat, and stayed three months. It has since been vi- 
sited twice by that celebrated navigator. And his de- 
scription of the persons and manners of the natives of 
this, may serve for those of all the other islands scat- 
tered about this part of the Pacific ; as a great similar- 
ity pervades the whole. This island consists of two 
peninsulas, a great part of which is covered with woods, 
consisting partly of bread-fruit trees^ palms, cocoa-nut, 
plantains, bananas, mulberrys, sugar canes, and others 
peculiar to the climate, particularly a kind of pine- 
apple, and the dragon-tree. The people have mild 
features and a pleasing countenance. They are about 
the ordinary 'size of the Europeans ; of a pale mahog- 
any brown, with fine black hair and eyes, and wear a 
piece of cloth round their middle, of their own manu- 
facture ; and another wrapped about the head, in va- 
rious picturesque shapes, like a turban. The women 
who are far from being ugly or unhandsome, wear a 
piece of cloth with a hole in the middle, through which 
they pass their heads, so that one part of the garment 
hangs down behind and the other before, to the knees ; 
a fine white cloth, like muslin passes over this in va- 
rious elegant turns round the body,' a little below the 
breasts, forming a kind of tunic ; of which, sometimes 
one turn falls gracefully across the shoulder. Both 
sexes are adorned, or rather disfigured, by those black 
stains, occasioned by puncturing the skin, and rubbing 
a black colour into the wounds. 

The birds most common are two sorts of parroquets, 
one of a beautiful sapphirine blue, another of a green- 
ish colour^ with a few red spots ; a king's fisher of a 
dark green, with a dollar of the 'same hue round his 
white throat ; a large cuckoo ; several sorts of pi- 
geons or dove* ; and a bluish heron. The only quad- 
rupeds found on the island (and indeed on any of these 
islands) are hogs, dogs and rats, which* are suffered to 
run about at pleasure. Their houses consist only of a 

N 



158 

roof, thatched with the; long priGkly leases of the palm- 
nut tree, and supportedby a few pillars made o£the 
bread-fruit tree* As a roof is sufficient to shelter th e 
natives from rains and from nightly dewis ; , and as the 
elimate is one of the happiest in the worJd, the houses 
have seldom any walls, hut are open on all sides. 
Their c-lpth is madeof ; the fibrpu^bark of the mulber- 
ry tree, which is beaten with a kind of mallet:; and a 
glue, made of the hibiscxvs esculentus 5 is employed to 
make the pieces of bark cohere. Some ofthese pieces 
are two or three yards wide, and fi fty yards long* Tho* 
the natives far excel most of the Americans, in the 
arts of ingenuity* yet -thsy had not in vented any meth- 
od fpr boiling of water. * and having no vessel itbat could 
bear the fire, they had no more idea that water could 
be made hot, than that it could be made solid. Long 
nails on the fingers are a mark of distinction among 
them, as among the Chinese ; for they imply that 
such persons only as have no occasion tpwprjk, could 
puffer them to grow to that len gth ; The two .sexes 
here, eat separately? as-in -many other countries- 

Their provisions are chiefly fish, pork, cocoa-nuts, 
breadrfruit and bananas .;• and they apply sea-water as^a 
sauces both to fish and pork. Nothing can exceed their 
agility in swimming, diving and climbing, trees. Mr. 
Foster is lavish in his praises of the gentleness* good 
nature .and hospitality of these people ■} and also of the 
beauty, gracefulness and elegance of the air, features, 
and persons of many of them >; esjveeiallyof the-better 
sort : to whose voyageand capt, Cppk's, in the Endea* 
vour? compiled by Dr. Hawkesworth we must refer 
the -reader, as well as to the account of capt. Cook's 
}ast voyage, published in 1785, for a more; particular 
account of their dress, dwellings, food, domestic a- 
musements, navigation, diseases, religion, funeral rites, 
wars, weapons and government. 

Capt. Cook estimated the population of the Sajqdwich 
Islands at 400,000, that of Otaheita at 204,000 ; the 



159 



Society Islands and many others are very full of people ; 
the number of the whole is very great, and it is likely 
that the whole population of these islands is perhaps 
nearly equal to the number of Indians now on the con- 
tinent. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 

Much has been said at various times, by authors of 
a certain description, concerning the derivation of the 
Americans. They have laboured hard to shew that 
they were derived from the northern Tartars on the 
continent of Asia. But among all the descriptions 
given of the several tribes and nations of Tartary, we 
find not one that corresponds with that of the Amer- 
icans. The Tartar complexion consists of a dark red 
and a white intermixed, in which the red predomi- 
nates, and these colours in those who are not much ex- 
posed to the action of the sun and wind are more dis- 
tinguishable in them than in any other people ; tho&e 
who are exposed to the weather become tawny and 
those who are not, are often said to be of a straw co- 
lour. Whereas the natural complexion of the Indians, 
though it inclines to a red, is in the fairest cf them of a 
copper colour. There is not a tribe of the Tartars 
whose features are like the Americans : for their no- 
ses are shorter and thicker, their eyes smaller and 
more lively ; their foreheads broader and the eye- 
brows of some of them very high, and of others so 
long that they shade their eyes. And there is not a 
single tribe in Tartary whose physiognomy agrees with 
the Indians. Both sorts of people, doubtless, have 
some similar usuages, bvit not many, and these usua- 
ges, are rather to be ascribed to the natural sugges- 
tions of the human mind, than any thing derived from 
the one to the other. We may therefore conclude that 
the Americans are not derived from any people on 
earth ; but that they are aboriginees in the fullest sense 
©fthe expression. And that their first progenilor was 



160 



neither Poan .K.ou, nor Adam, but of a different lump ; 
and first Animated on the continent of America. 

We have already shown in the foregoing chapters, 
that a lithe insects and reptiles ; and at least 10© dif- 
ferent kinds of quadrupeds, must from the nature of 
the case, have been created on the new continent ; be- 
cause, from, the short term plotted to the existence of 
some of them ; the slowness of motion natural to some, 
and the delicate constitutions of others, it is impossi- 
ble in the ordinary course of nature, that they should 
have migrated from mount Arrarat, or any other part 
of the old .continent, through the, 'frozen, regions of 
Kamtschatka., to the. torrid zone of America, .where we 
now fjnei' them. And, we cannot conceive of any pos- 
sible reason v '.why the Creator, should anymore, cir- . 
cumscn.be tho number and variety of human beings, in 
the day of ■ca- t'oru than of. any other species of anima- 
ted nature^ Besides, we do in fact find, that there are 
several specks ofthe human kind very. different from. 
• > ,n ot.hjer, ' hich from their local situations and ap- 
pearances, we are to believe were originally planted in 
the . regions which their posterity now enjoy. 

That the Americans came from the northern regions 
of .T aitar v, appears to be an unfounded conjecture, for 
in those regions there are no people like them to be 
found. And besides, if they had come by that route 
we f;.houk} expect that some of them would have set- 
tled on the one side qr the other of the strait of Bhe- 
ring, which they have been supposed to pass ; but we 
are well assured that there arc none of them in that 
country ; byt all the inhabitants on both sides are of a 
very different cast ; those on the Asiatic side are Kamt> 
schadales, and those on the American side; are Esqui- 
mau xs, as low down as latitude 53. 

The Indians of the United States have a tradition 
that their forefathers came from the south-west ; and 
n.v.s we conceive to be highly probable.: for it is nat- 
ural to suppose, that the race originated in a^ wftrm cli- 



161 



irate, for such would be most convenient for the pa- 
rent stock, who we are to presume, felt themselves, 
on their first emergency into life, in a very awkward 
situation, and must have depended on the spontaneous 
plants, roots, and fruits of the earth, for their subsist 
tence. 

CHAPTER XXIV, 

VARIETY VII. 

General description of the inhabitants of A~ew-Hq21a7iZi 
and the adjacent Islands, 

PURSUING our course still to the westward, we 
next come to the New Hebrides, situated from the 1 66 
to the 170th deg. of E. k>n. and from the 14th to the 
20th degrees of S. lat. These are a cluster of Islands 
lying in the South Pacific Ocean. In these it seems 
that the Indians of whom we have been last speaking, 
and another east of men, having frizzled hair, have, 
met : for the inhabitants of the different islands in this 
group make very different appearances. But are chief- 
ly of a slender make and dark colour, and most of them 
have frizzled hair. The canoes and houses are small 
and poorly constructed. They have scarcely any man- 
ufacture, not even for clothing. They are however, 
hospitable and good nature when not prompted to a 
. contra: y conduct by the jealousy which the usual ap- 
pc ..ran zc of European visitors, may naturally be sup- 
posed to excite. The principal islands are Tierra del 
Espiiitu Santo and Malicollo, besides several of less 
note>. some of which are from IS to 2 5 leagues in cir- 
cuit. The lands in general are high and moutainous, , 
abounding with wood, -water and the usualproikxtioiis 
txfthc tropical islands. 



"1 62 

New Caledonia is a large island, extending from .19 
to 20 degress of S. lat. and from 163 to 167 E. Ion* 
The inhabitants are stout, tall, and in general well pro- 
portioned : their hair' and beards black and much friz* 
zled, so as to be somewhat woolly, in some individu- 
als ; they besmear their faces with black pigment, 
and their only covering is a wrapper made from the 
bark of a tree, or of leaves. They cultivate the soil 
with some ail ami industry ; -but subsist chiefly on 
roots and fish. Plantains and sugar-canes are not plen- 
tiful, bread-fruit is very "scarce, and the cocoa-nut trees 
are but thinly planted ; but their yams and taras are in 
gi eat abundance. Their houses are circular like a bee- 
like and full as dose and warm ; the framing is of 
small spars and reeds, and both sides and roof are thick 
covered with thatch made of dried grass. They depo- 
sit their dead in the ground, and decorate their grave 
with spears, darts, paddles, kc. all stuck up in the 
ground about it. They are of a pacific disposition 
and their women arc much chaster than those of the 
more eastern islamls. 

New- Holland is the largest known island in the 
world, it ,e>: tends from W d. 30 m. to 43 d: 42 m. S. lat. 
and from Hit) d. SO m. to 153 d. 30 m 'K Ion. so that 
its square wcface considerably exceeds all Europe. 
'The land is for the most part of a good height, diver- 
sified with Kills .and valleys-. A vast chain of Softy 
mountains run nearly in a im'Mi and south direction 
through this vast island at about 60 mites distance.' 
The- general face .-df. the country is pleasingly diversi- 
fied \?k.h gentle ridings and small winding vyJlies^ cov- 
ered forjjiie most part nith large trees, ' affording a 
Riiccessi^i^f leaves at /all ..seasons. A variety of li ow- 
ning shrubs almost ail new to a European alid of ex- 
quisite fragrance, abound imttee places which are free 
from trees ; and among these a small shrub bearing an 
elegant flo wer vvbicb smells like English May, is pe- 
culiarly delightful* and perfumes the, air to a great dis- 



tance Their quadrupeds are chiefly oftheeppos- 
sum kind, of which the most remarkable is the kan- 
garoo ; there is also a species of clogs very different 
from these of Europe. They have many beautiful 
birds of various kinds : as also several kinds of sc; pants, 
large spiders and scolopendras ; and many curious 
fishes. 

The natives are perhaps the most miserable and 
savage race of men existing, going entirely naked. 
Their colour is rather a deep chocolate than a full 
black, but the filth with which the skin is covered 
prevents the true colour from appearing. Their hair 
like the people of Guinea is a kind of wool ; but their 
features are not so disagreeable, and they are free from 
the disagreeable effluvia which the Africans emit. 
They are fond of adorning their bodies with scars, 
which are sometimes raised several inches from the 
flesh ; appear to be filled with wind and make a hide- 
ous appe arance . Some of them perforate the eartilege 
-of the nose and thrust a large bone through it. The 
hair is sometimes so much clotted with a red gum, 
that it resembles a mop. They paint themselves with 
various colours ; they will also sometimes ornament 
themselves with beads of shells, but make no use of 
the beautiful feathers of their birds. Most of the men 
want one of the foreteeth in the upper jaw ; which ap- 
pears to be a badge of honor among them. It is com* 
nton for the women to cut off two joints of the little 
finger ; which, considering the clumsiness of their 
amputating instruments, must be a painful operation ; 
for they have no edge tools but such as are made of 
stones and shells. 

The New-Hollanders appear extremely deficient in 
the useful arts. Of the cultivation of the ground they 
have no notion, nor can they be prevailed upon to cat 
bread or dressed meat. Hence they ■■depend entirely 
fcr subsitence on fruits and roots, and what fish they 
ran catch. They sometimes strike the fish with spears 



164 



from their canaes, sometimes take them with hookfc- 
and sometimes with nets, made of the fibres of the flax 
plant. Their hooks are made of the inner side of a 
shell very much, resembling mother-of-pearL Their 
canoes are nothing more than lai ge pieces of bark tied 
up at both ends with vines. They eat animal substan- 
ces raw : but sometimes bake them between two, hot 
stones. They could never be brought to taste spirits 
a. second time. Their huts consist of pieces of bark , 
laid together in the form of an oven, open atone end ; 
very, low, hut long enough for a man to lie down at full 
length : but they seem to depend more for shelter, 
from the caverns, with which the rocks abound, 
and though they go invariably naked , they are not so 
hardened as to be insensible to cold. They .can im& 
tate the songs and language of. the Europeans, m,uch 
sooner than the, Europeans - can imitate theirs. They 
are actiye, vigorous and stout, though for the most 
part lean. The. wp men r have soft pleasing voices, and 
seem nqt to be destitute of modesty, The men dis- 
play ..great .personal bravery on the . appearance of any ; 
danger. The natives appear not to be numerous in 
proportion to the, extent ; of the country, though their, 
numbers appear much: greater . now ■ than, .when , the; 
country was Hi st discovered. 

The English have formed a colonyon. the east coast ... 
of New-JIollancl. C.apt, Philip sailed from Portsmouth 
in May 1789 with a detachment of marines, and. 778 . 
convicts, of which ,220 were women. He arrived at 
Botany-Bay , in Jan uary, 1 78-8 . Eat fki ding this. bay . ve- 
ry ineligible for a colony, he fixed at Port Jackspn, and 
there begun his settlement, to. which place lie gav e the 
name, of Sidney Cove. Since this time the Jails, of 
England . have been several times cleared of convicts^ 
to replenish and augment the new colony. And the 
colony is in a very flourishing state. 

New-Guinea is an Island to the . north of New-Hol-, 
land, and separated from it only by a strait* It extends 



16* 

south-east from the equator to i24eg. S. lajt. and is be- 
tween 700 and 800 myeslong, but it is narrow^ The, 
land in general is low, but is covered with such alux- 
urience of wood and herbage, as can scarcely be con-, 
ceived of. The cocoa-nut, bread-fruit and plantain- 
tree^ flourish in the greatest perfection. The inhab- 
itaats make much tjie same appearance as those of 
New-Holland^ but as the climate is hotter, these a^e 
a pr.oper black. 

To the north af New-Guinea is New-Britain^ which, 
is situated in the 4th deg. of S. lat. and 152 degrees 19 
minutes of E. Ion. from Greenwich. Aiid is only di- 
vided from New-Guinea, by a strait. 

To the north-east of New-Britain is, New-Ireland, 
and divided from it only by a sfrait. Newrlreland ex*_ 
tends in length from north-east to SQuthrwest, about r 
270 miles, but is generally very narrow. It abounds, 
with a variety of trees and plants, and with many pi- 
geons, parrot S| rooks and "other birds. The inhabit- 
ants pf all ihese islands are black and woolly headed, 
like the negroes of Guinea, but have not their flat no- 
ses and thick lips Northwestward of New-Ireland a 
cluster of Islands was seen by capt. Carteret, in 1767. 
lyipg near to each other, and supposed to consist of 20-. 
or 50 iq number. Ope of these which is of a very 
considerable extent, was named New-Hanover, but. 
the re&i of the cluster received the name of Admiral-, 
ty Islands. These, fro.m their situation are v supposed 
to be inhabited by the same kind of people. 

All the Islanders we have mentioned in this chapter,, 
are undoubtedly derived from one and the same parent 
stock, as they ail have frizzled hair, or wool ; and the. 
colour of all is black, or approaching near to it ; the« 
difference of their colours may very rationally be ascri- 
bed to the difference of the climates in which they live. 
Those near the equator b.eing black, and those at a. 
further remove from it, of not so deep a hue. There 
is as great a diversity of complexion in the sever*! 



166 



climates of Africa. Whether there be any others of 
this family in that quarter of the globe we know 
not : we however suppose there is none to the west of 
them, nor to the east, nor to the south ; if then there 
beany, it must be at the north? and there cannot for 
want of sea room be many, and the probability is that 
there are none, unless on some very small islands. 

The New-Philippines or Paiaos, in the north Pacific 
consisting of 32 in all, which are little known to the 
Europeans, may be of the same kind of people, and so 
also may the Ladrones. 

I feel myself forcibly inclined to believe, that thia 
woolly headed race of blacks, are of a different race 
from that of Africa : and that they form another vari- 
ety of man radically different from all others. To this 
I am induced, by both their physiognomy and locality* 
The features of these are agreeabie, those of Africa, 
ugly. The distance of these islands from Africa, is 
7,000 miles, which is more than one quarter, and 
somewhat less than cr.e third, of the whole circumfer- 
ence of the globe. We can conceive of no possible 
means, whereby a people of so little enterprize as the 
Negro race- — a people who have no shipping— who are 
ignorant of the art of navigation — and who could have 
no previous knowledge of these islands, should trans- 
port a colony thither : especially at so early a period 
as these settlements must have commenced* 

Were we to admit that they migrated from Africa, 
we should find ourselves unable to account for their 
passing by the Moluccas, Sunda Islands and other in- 
termediate islands, and still push towards the east, not 
knowing at the same time, that they should ever find 
any land whatever in their progress ; and then, final- 
ly plant themselves here. Besides, had they in fact 
been a negro colony from Afiica, they must have bro't 
their flat noses and thick lips along with them, and 
have entailed them on their posterity. 

I cannot relinquish the idea of their being a distinct 



variety, merely orraafcamt of tfteb being less nume» 
rous than other varieties. For the increase of popu- 
lation ctep^ncte much upon the ingenuity and address 
of the people, their industry, invention and; manner of 
life. A people whose innate faculties, shall never, in 
the course of ages, suggest to them the necessity of 
cultivating the earth for a subsistence ; nor of provi- 
ding clothing, houses, and. other conveniences* of life, 
could never progress, but slowly in population. In 
point of provident measures they appear to-be hardly 
equal to many of the brute creation ; in carpenters 
work and masonry they are- far inferior to the Beavers, 
as well as in laying: up a stock of, provisions. However 
as they enjoy the faculties of speech and imitation, 
they are certainly men, but are to be considered as 
tbelowest grade, in that order of beings : and as a peo- 
ple whose enterprise could never have conducted them 
from Africa,, to those remote islands ; but who must 
have originatedin the country they now possess. 

If Adam and Eve, by eating of the tree of knowl- 
edge were thence inspired with a sense of shame at 
their own nakedness, and the same sense thence de- 
scended to their posterity : it is thence evident that 
neither these woolly headed race, nor the 'Indians of 
the Pelew Islands, nor indeed the savage nations gen- 
erally in the hotter climates, are descended from them 
for it is very fashionable among all these to go abso- 
lutely naked, without exhibiting any sense of that 
passion ; nor- has the curse of eating theiribvead in the 
sweat of 'their fete* fallen upon them, for they, live 
generally, on the spontaneous productions of the . earth 
^nd waiters* 



168 



CHAPTER XXV. 

General description of the Inhabitan ts of the Philippine 
Islands , and those of the Eastern Archipelago. 

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 

ARE situated in the Indian Ocean from Ion. 1 27 
to 121 degrees E. and from lat. 6 to 18 degrees N. 
The air is hot and moist ; and the soil fertile in rice 
and many other useful vegetables and fruits, the trees 
are always green, and there are ripe fruits all the year. 
They have a great many wild beasts : and many birds 
unknown to Europe or America. The inhabitants are 
not all of one original. The islands are said to be about 
1200 in number ; of which 400 are very considerable. 
The principal islands are, Luconio or Manilla, Min- 
danao, Samar, Mastbate, Mindoro, Luban, Fanay, 
Leyte, Bohol, Zebu, Negros, St. Johns, Xolo* and 
Abyo. 

Manilla is 400 miles in length and 100 in breadth. 
The inhabitants are a mixture of several nations be- 
sides Spaniards. And they produce a mixed breed, 
distinct from all the rest. The blacks have long hair 
and good features ; these are probably of the Gentoo 
race and the first settlers. And there is one tribe who 
prick their skins and draw figures upon them, as they 
do in most places where they go naked : these we must 
presume are of the Tartar race. The capital is Manilla, 

Mindanao is I SO miles long and 120 broad. The in- 
* habitants are of a mean low stature*- with small limbs, 
and little heads : Their chief trades are Goldsmiths, 
Blacksmiths and Carpenters, They build pretty good 
sea vessels. The Sultan has a queen besides 2o other 
women : and all the men have several wives for their 
religion is Mahometanism. The people are probably 
of Arab extraction. These three kinds of people, tha£ 
is, the Gentoo raec> the Tartar race and the Arabs, 



169 



in all probability constitute all the original inhabitants 
of the Philippines. But whether they constitute the 
whole of the natives, or whether some part of them 
are of a non-descript origin still remains a doubt. 
And indeed the case is much the same in most of the 
other islands in the Indian Ocean. 

The Moluccas or Sfiice-Islands lie on the east of Ce- 
lebes. The principal are Ternot, Ambcyna, Tydore, 
Machain, Motyr, and Bachain. The natives wear 
large whiskers and are Idolaters, likely Gentoos. 

Celebes or Macaptctr lies to the east of Borneo. 

Borneo, is the largest island in the world except 
New- Holland. It lies under the equator ; that line cut- 
ting it almost thro' the middle. It is almost of a circular 
figure, 18C0 miles in circumference. It abounds with 
gold ; and the finest diamonds in the Indies, are found 
in its rivers. It produces rice, pepper, and bees-wax, 
which last is used instead of money. The beasts are 
oxen, buffaloes, deer, goats, elephants, tygers, Ou- 
rang Outangs, monkeys, Sec. The people are very 
swarthy, and go almost naked. The natives are Gen- 
toos, but on the coast they are chiefly Mahome- 
tans. 

Java, lies to the south of Borneo, and at its west 
end is separated from Sumatra by the strait of Sunda. 
The length is 420 mile*, it is narrow, and its breadth 
various. On this Island stands the superb town of Ba- 
tavia, erected by the Dutch. The natives are a bar- 
barous, proud and fierce people of a brown completion, 
short coal black hair, large cheeks, small eyes and 
large eye-brows ; the men are very robust and strong 
limbed, but the women are small. Those that live 
near the sea side are generally Mahometans, but those 
who live within land are Gentoos, abstaining from flesh 
of all kinds. 

Sumaira is the most western of the Sunda Islands: 
constituting on that side the boundary of the eastern 
.\rchipelago. Its general direction is nearly N. \V. 

O 



170 



and S. E. The equator divides it into almost two 
equal parts. It is above 900 miles in length, but 
from 1 00 to 1 50 only in breadth. 

Mr. Marsden in 1783, who had resided on the isl- 
and in the quality of Secretary- to the President and 
Council of fort Marlborough, published a history of 
Sumatra with very copious particulars of the island. 
He represents it as surpassed by few in the beautiful 
indulgences of nature. He divides the inhabitants into " 
Malays, Acheriese, Battas, Lampoons and -Rejangs ; 
and he takes the latter as his standard of description, 
v illi respect to the persons, manners arid customs of 
tire inhabitants. 1 hey are rather below the middle' 
s>:.tuie, their bulk in proportion, and gracefully fornix 
ed. Their hair is strong- and of a shifting black, the 
men are beardles. Their complexion is properly yek 
low ; wanting the red tinge that constitutes the copper 
of* ta^ny colour. They are generally lighter than 1 the 
Mesfees or half breed of the rest oflndia, those of the 
superior class; particularly their wdnien of rank* ap* 
preaching to a degree" of fairness. 

Their rites of marriage corisist simply in joiriiil£ the 
hands of the parties, and pronouncing them man and 
wife' without ceremony, except the entertainment that 
is given on the occasion by the father of the girl. Their 
customs permit them' having as man V wives as they 
can purchase or maintain : but it is extremely rare that 
an instance occurs of their having mote than one ; and 
that only among a few of their chiefs. 

The Sumatrans are excessively' fond of cock- fight- 
ing. Of what race the se people are, I am in -doubt, 
and shall not hazard a conjecture, t ut tliey must be 
cither Tartar, or Non-descripr. 

The wild beasts of' Sumatra, are tygeris* elephants, 
rhinoceroses, bears and monkies. The tygdrs pro^e 
to the inhabitants, both in their jcttrnies and in their 
domestic occupatibns,'most destructive enemies. The 
number of people annually slain by these npacioiis ty 



171 



rants of the woods, is almost incredible. Whole vil- 
lages have been depopulated by them, yet from a su- 
perstitious prejudice, it is with difficulty, that they 
are prevailed upon by a large reward, which the India 
Company offers, to use methods of destroying* them, 
till they have sustained some particular injury, in their 
own family or kindred. The size and strength of the 
species which prevail on this island are prodigious. 
They are said to break with a blow of their foi*e paw 
the leg of a horse or buffalo ; and the largest prey 
they kill, is dragged by them without difficulty into the 
woods. This they usually perform cn the second nighr, 
being supposed, on the first, to satisfy themselves with 
sucking the blood only. Time is by this delay atT6rcl- 
ecl to prepare for their destruction, either by shooting 
them or by placing a vessel of water, strongly impreg- 
nated with arsenic near the carcass, which is fastened 
to a tree to prevent its being carried off. The tygjer 
having satiated himself with the flesh, is prompted to 
assuage his thirst with the templing liquor at hand, 
and perishes in the indulgence. 

Alligators likewise occasion the loss of many inhab- 
itants, frequently destroying the people as they bathe 
in the river, according to their regular custom, and 
which the perpetual evidence of the risk cannot deter 
them from. A superstitious idea of their sanctity al- 
so preserves them from molestation, although with a 
hook of sufficient strength, they may be taken "without 
much difficulty. 

The other animals of Sumatra are buffaloes, a small 
kind of horses, deer, bullocks, and hog-dear. The 
bezoaf stone found on this animal, has been valued at 
ten limes its weight in gold ; it is of a dark bro wn co- 
lour, smooth on the out side; and the coat bcin^ ta- 
ken off, it appears ^ t ill darker, with strings running 
underneath the coat : it will swim on the top of the -\ a- 
ter. If it be ii. fused in any liquid it makes it extreme- 
ly bitter ; the virtues usually attributed to this stcee 



172 



are cleansing the stomach, creating an appetite and 
sweetening the blood. 

Of birds they have a greater variety than of beasts, 
The coo-ow or Sumatfan pheasant, is a bird of uncom- 
mon beauty. They have storks of prodigious size* 
parrots, dunghill fowls, ducks, the largest cock in the 
world, wood piteous, doves, and a great variety of 
small birds, different from ours and distinguished by 
the beauty of their colours. Gf their reptiles ; they 
have lizards, flying lizards and cameleons. The isl- 
and swarms with "insects, and their varieties are no 
less extraordinary than their numbers. Rice ' is the 
only gi?ain that grows in the country ; they have sugar- 
canes, ' beans, peas, 'radishes,' yams,, potatoes, pump- 
kins and se veral kinds of pot herbs unknown in Europe. 
And here are to be met with moat fruits produced m 
the other parts of the East-Indies, in the greatest per- 
fection. Indigo, B razil- wood v -two species of bread- 
fruit tree, pepper, benjamin; coffee and cotton, are 
likewise the produce of this island, as well as cassia 
and eaxnphire : here also is the cabbage tree and silk 
cotton tree ; and the forest contains a great variety of 
valuable species of wood ; as ebony, pine, sandal, ea- 
gle or aloes, teek, man chin eel, and iron wood, and 
also the banyan tree 

Gold, iron, tin, copper and lead, as*e found in the 
country, and the former is supposed to be as plenty 
here as in Peru or Mexico. The finest gold and gold 
dust, are found in the country of Limong, immediate- 
ly contiguous to the presidency of Fort Marlborough, 
to which the merchants repair annually for the pur- 
chase of opium, and such other articles as they may 
be in want oh and give for them gold of so pure a na- 
ture, as to contain little or no alloy, The native indo- 
lence of the Malay disposision prevents them from 
collecting more than is sufficient to supply the few and 
simple wants of a race of men as yet unenlightened by 
c ivilization and science* and who are ignorant of the 



173 



full extent of the advantages of the country they inha- 
bit- The roads leading into this golden country arc 
almost impervious, affording only a scanty path to a 
r.ingle traveller, where whole nights must be passed 
in the open air, exposed to the malignant influence of 
a hostile climate, in a country infested by the most 
ferocious wild beasts. 

Rain is very frequent here ; sometimes very heavy, 
and almost always attended with thunder and lightning ; 
and there are several volcanos on the island. The peo- 
ple who inhabit the coast are Malays, who came here 
from the peninsula of Malacca ; but the interior parts 
are inhabited by a very different people, and who have 
hitherto had no connection with the Europeans. Their 
language and character differ much from those of 
the Malays ; the latter using the Arabic character. 
The people between the English company, and those 
of the Dutch at Palimban, on the other side of the isl- 
and, write on long narrow slips of the bark of a tree, 
with a piece of bamboo- They begin at the bottom, 
and write from the left hand to the right, contrary to 
the custom of most other eastern nations. These in- 
habitants of the interior of Sumatra are a free people, 
and live in small villages, called Doosans, independ- 
ent of each other and governed each by its own chief. 
All of the m hav e laws ; some have written ones, and 
others not, by which they punish offenders and termi- 
nate disputes. 

After all our researches we know but little of the na- 
tives of these islands, called the eastern Archipek^o. 
Foreigners have planted themselves on almost all their 
sea coasts, who consist chierly of Chines?, Hindoos 
and Arabs, and our navigators have never nu.de them- 
selves much acquainted with the natives, so as to be 
able to give a correct description of them ; we &rc 
therefore unable to form an opinion whether they do in 
fact constitute a part of any varieties of man already 
mentioned, or do constitute a snecies different from 

2 



174 



them all. It is however highly probable that the na- 
tives of these islands are generally oi the Hindoo race : 
but- many of them of. the Tartar race. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
OF THE RACE OF ADAM, 

VARIETY VIII, of the h v ma n spec \% s . 

Co m/rara tiv e 1 desc rip tion of AD AM V JRA CE* 

WE shall in this chapter comprize the wholefofthe 
posterity of Noah; which comprehends all the fair 
people, in the world, whether in America, Europe* 
Asia, Africa, or elsewhere, on the detached island sv 
The whole of Europe, - the west of * Asia the north- 
east of | Africa, and a large portion of the present in- 
haLitcUiis of America 5 are of this race. Here we need 
not be very particular in description, because my rea- 
ders as we lias myself, constitute a- part of this-.variety 
of man, and many of .-them are better versed in the 
characters of this race, general,! national and individu- 
al, than I am. 

The most . useful observation 4 that -occurs toMny 
ruind on .this- • occasion, is*- to present a comparative 
view, by contrasting this variety of man with the -oth- 
er \ an ewes,, and pointing cot- the * discriminations pe- 
culiar -to e: cL. 

l$L f\" the idzei - There -is:u-itu!e in this respect to 



•* Compi trending Arabia, Persia, Armenia, Geor- 
I gia y (iLc- sever, uatluas of Gaueausus. appear-to be a mix- 
ture &{ jthe Tartar ana Ein-epean races,) --as also the N. 
E. of ihe Russian dominions. 

| The ancient race of-Egyptians ; and.Arabs 5 in the 
■E~st.*nd Xei ih, blended with Mcors } - &c. 



If 5 



distinguish this from *any of the other varieties, except 
ting the pale race who inhabit the arctic regions. 

2d. .Of comjilexioti. The posterity of Noah are the 
fairest of all men r none except the race of PoanKou 
can stand in competition with them : and these are a 
■ full shade darker : they have a greater proportion of 
the -dark crimson, which readily turns to a brown hue, 
in the fairest of them. There is indeed such a differ- 
ence of complexion among those who are deemed the 
Tartar race, even among the se who inhabit: the, saaue 
climates ; that I can hardly. persuade, myself they are 
all derived from one origin. Their features however, 
are by far more similar than their complexions but 
even this admits of great diversity, for. so flat is the 
visage of a. Kalmuc that his , skull may be known from 
that of any other nation. Siberians a cold and unco m - 
fo l iable region,, aiid^sery extensive. It is inhabited 
by many small nations of different complexions, .lan- 
. j^uages, maimers and reiigion ; but , to call them all 
Tartars must be very incorrect. It is i&turalto con- 
• jecture, that so majiy sorts of .people would u ever have 
i resorted to thai kihQspitable climate but from dire jie* 
, cessity. We may therefore, conjecture, . that- they are 
groostlyftheremoatft fugitives, of conquered, nations. and 
tribes, of different races, who fled- frvmi the pursuit of 
their conquerors,- and here found anasylum, in a. re- 
gion so dreary that their, eijeraies relented^ and gave 
over the pursuit. This appears the more likely, as 
they border upon. Russia and are subjects of that cm- 
fire which is European. And it is by . no means im- 
probable r - that -the two varieties are mixed and, inter- 
spersed in several other places, so iisi to.render.it im - 
possible irv some cases to determine, absolutely to *vhich 
race some particular, tribes. .belong. . But iu. every, , in- 
stance where, this is positively known,, we find always, 
that in the ^>atne:clisnate , the Adamites are, much ihc 
fairest. In regard, to the complexion of the other ra- 
ces : the Esquimaux and other polar nations, are of a 



176 



pale whitish colour, without any thing of the red 
ground work of the Americans, or the fair blush of the 
Europeans. The Gentoos are black ; the Africans 
black ; the Americans in the colder regions of a cop- 
per colour, and under the equator of a brown olive. 

3d. Of the eyes. The Europeans have eyes of eve- 
ry hue ; black, blue and brown* but most generally 
grey: and in general their eyes are larger than those 
of other people. The rest of mankind universally 
have black eyes, or such as very nearly approach to 
black. This is therefore a prominent distinction. 

4th. Of the eye-brows. The Europeans have not 
the high eye-brows of the Chinese and Japanese ; nor 
those of the Tartars which are low, thick and bushy, 
so as to shade their eyes ; nor like those of the Amer- 
ican Indians which turn back towards their temples, 
but, in general, their eye-brows are properly placed, 
and duly proportioned. 

5th. Of the hair, The hair of the European race 
partakes of various colours, as, black, red, yellow, 
brown, light-coloured ; but the great majority is brown, 
and this of every different grade, from nearly black to 
almost white : w hereas all the other races of man, 
without exception, have black hair. But hair of a 
proper black is very rare among the Europeans; the 
*same observation ought to have been made in regard 
to their eyes, for black eyes among them are also 
very rare. 

6th. Of the beard. This variety have generally 
large beards which is a thing uncommon in every oth* 
er race of men throughout the world except the Es* 
quimauxs and Negroes. 

7th. Of the %ose. The European noses are made 
after a great variety of patterns, but they have no na* 
tional nose, like some other races : but, nature being 
in this respect rather capricious with them, they con- 
tent themselves as well as they can, with her adapta- 
tions. The Roman nose, which is national in India, 



s 177 

falls to the lot of one man ; the short thick nose of the 
Tartar race to another ; the thin hooked nose of the 
native American to a third, and once in a great while 
yon may meet with one resembling the Negro model. 
But the nose of this race- is commonly elegant and well 
proportioned. It is not then any particular conform- 
ation of the nose, but an infinite variety of fovms, that 
distinguish the European race from the other races in 
which nature has been more uniform. 

'8th. The tctth. I mention this article with regret, 
I paused a while before I began, because it will be 
rather against the race of -which 1 have the honour to 
be a member. It is however discriminative, that the 
little pale savages under the arctic circle ; the- savages 
of the American wilderness ; the shiftless blacks of 
New-Guinea, and foeted woolly heads of Negroland, 
should be in this particular, highly favoured ; and fur- 
nished with two rows of fine white ivory in their. gums, 
whire the more conceited Europeans, are extracting 
one rotten tooth after another, till their mouths cave 
in. We are however to consider it as a-wise and be- 
neficent adaptation of Divine Pro\idence, to furnish 
the savage nations -with good teeth, to whom it hi 9 
denied the faculty of furnishing themselves Wi*h knives* 
and other implements oi iron, so necessary for acquir- 
in:; and preparing their daily, food. 

9th. Of Foh' tics, While the other varieties of 
mankind universally, arc either governed by despots, 
or, in a rude state without any permanent rules of gov- 
ernment whatever: The Europeans in general, enjoy 
a rational; liberty ; and the people share with the prince, 
if not in the administration itself, yet in the establish- 
ment of their constitutions and lavvs, which bifid their 
rulers as well as themselves to the observation of cer- 
tain duties, and make government set easy. This 
happy liberty has resulted from their own prowess, 
arid that spirit of enterprise which actuates and dis- 
I inguishes them on all occasions from the rest ofn>an- 



kind. They boldly Tesist the galling yoke of tyranny* 
and spurn at the chains of slavery, to which all the 
oriental nations have tacitly submitted ; while their 
superior souls revolt from the anarchy that reigns a- 
inong the savage tribes. 

10th. Of Religion, The great out lines of that re- 
ligion, to which they generally agree* seems to be 
this, That there is one God, the great Supreme Intel- 
ligence, who created the universe, and established in* 
the physical system, certain immutable laws, which 
are called Divine Providence, by which the wholei i 
governed. That he is eternal, immutable, omniscient, 
and omnipotent. ... And possesed, in an infinite degree, 
of every beneficent and adorable attribute and perfec- 
tion. And that it is a duty incumbent upon all men 
to worship and adore him — to acquiese in his will, and 
always to do those things which shall please him. 
They believe also in the immortality of the soul, and 
in a future state of retribution. 

But when they descend to particulars, they disagree, 
what the Divine will is : they also disagree in the modes* 
of worship : Some hold that God has fully revealed 
his will in the Bible, and others, in the Koran ; while 
others hold, that he has never made any external rev- 
elation of his will at all ; but furnished every person 
with a competent light in the faculties of his own mind. 

The grand divisions of religion are four. Judaism, 
Christianity, Mahomctism, and Paganism ; and some 
of them have spread, though not very , extensively a- 
mong the other races. V arious kinds of the last, but 
none of the three first, originated likewise, in the 
other races of man. There are however, not a few 
who dissent from all these, to wit, the Deists : but as. 
these do not form themselves into fraternities for social 
worship, it is hard to ascertain their numbers, and be 
it what it may, they can never under this economy be- 
come conspicuous. Judaism was never extensive, be- 
ing always limited to the Hebrew nation : which na- 



179 



tion has-been long since disorganized, and their reli- 
gion now exists in the scattered remnant of that peo- 
ple. Paganism has been formerly very extensive, but 
has now almost deserted the race ; being absorbed in the 
professions of Christianity and Mahometism. Chris- 
tianity and Mahometism now engross the majority. 
Christianity is of the two, the most prevalent in the 
race ' of Adam v abstractly considered ; but Mahomet- 
ism being extended far among the other varieties of 
man, is thought on the whole, to embrace the greater 
number of proselytes. 

These radical divisions -are both subdivided into a 
great number of sects. The Christians are distin- 
guished by three grand divisions, viz : The Roman 
Church, under the jurisdiction of the Pope ; The 
Greek Church, under the disjunct jurisdiction of se- 
veral Patriarchs ; and the Reformed Churches which 
are under various different kinds cf economy ; and 
these are again subdivided into numerous sects. The 
grand divisions of the Mahometans or IMusselmans, are 
the followers of Ali and Omar ; these are again sub- 
divided into about as many sects as are the Christians;; 

It may be worthy of remark, that -there seems to be 
no race of men whatever, excepttheposteiity of Noah 
only, whose natural disposition appears to be adapted 
by Divine Providence, to the reception and practice 
of the christian religion. Many attempts have been 
made to propagate it among the other varieties of man. 
Missionaries, elevated with hope, prompted by zeal 
and inspired with devotion, have relinquished their 
ease, traversed every region and put their lives in 
jeopardy, todisseminate the gospeh inculcate its doc- 
trines, and evince its purity ; but the destinies hw< 
been against them. Very few among those other va- 
rieties have ever deigned their as*sent : and, of those 
who have assented, nene seem to have sincerely re- 
cognized its precepts : but have most generally inter- 
larded their Christianity with Jewish' or Pagan rites. 



180 



Some few congregations only have appeared to em- 
brace it with a cordial affection ; and even where it 
has flourished a while ; some unexpected fatality has 
nipped the promising bud. There seems to be an 
aversion to its doctrines and precepts, implanted in 
their nature and disposition. If this be the case, they 
must still be irreprehensible : for there can be no re- 
sponsibility attached to any one, for not exercising tal- 
ents which were never committed to his charge. 

These remarks seem to point out a physical differ- 
ence between the race of Adam and the other races of 
mankind, as well in the natural disposition of the mind, 
as in their external appearances. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Of the SAVAGE state. 

THE Savage state affords a strong argument, as 
well against the-doctrine of universal consanguinity, 
as against the probability of a remnant having been 
saved in the Ark, at the epocha of the universal del- 
uge. It evidently appears from the most ancient re- 
cords, that all mankind were primarily in that state. 
Some nations indeed, were civilized before the earliest 
histories commenced ; but even these could recount 
the time when their ancestors were in a savage state ; 
the contiguous nations were even then in that state^ 
and the one half of the world, perhaps, are even at 
this day, savages: or scarcely the smallest remove 
from savagism. 

Now we cannot but conjecture, that if all. mankind 
had descended from Noah, and Noah had received his 
education in the antediluvian world, and had been a 
preacher of righteousness there, he would have com- 
municated the arts and sciences, the morals and so- 



181 



cial precepts of the old world to his sons, and they 
again to theirs, by which means, the postdcluvian 
race would have set out in their new career, well fur- 
nished with social habits and just ideas of civilization : 
as also, with a competent knowledge of the existence 
and attributes of the true God, through whose singular 
favour they had been selected and saved in the general 
extirpation of animated nature ; and of the worship due 
to him. But of all this nothing appears : and we may 
set it down as an undoubted fact, that none of these 
advantages were put into the hands of the men of the 
primary ages of the world. For all men were, for 
aught that appears, prior to the building of Babel, in 
a complete state of savagism. It is said indeed, that in 
this enterprize, the Lord confounded their language, 
interrupted their work, and scattered them abroad 
over the whole face of the earth ; and, that thence com- 
menced the savage state. But how I Are we to con- 
ceive the Lord scattered them as with a whirlwind ? 
That he estranged their minds to all the sentiments of 
social felicity, and introduced among a civilized people 
by a strong hand, the uncongenial state of savagism ? 
That he obliterated from their minds the knowledge 
of the true God, and impelled them to the fabrication 
and worship of imaginary Deities ? By no means. 
The Divine Being whose tender mercies are over all 
his works, has never acted the tyrant to disturb the 
tranquility and happiness of man. lie made man, and 
placed him in a world every way accommodated to his 
nature, and governed by certain immutable lav s ; and 
endowed the human mind with ali the faculties requi- 
site to his being and well being, if he will but make a 
right use of them: and, we are to presume that God 
never has, in a single instance, by any immediate act 
of his, deprived any individual whatever of any advan- 
tage or emolument that he had wrought out for himself. 
Men had at that time, but recently emerged from sav- 
agism, and are we to imagine that he interposed to 

P 



.destroy their social habits so lately acquired, and cause 
them to revert to their former rude state. : True it is, 
that* the la\vs. of nature must have their course without 
respect to any man, and;every one must * submit tOsJris 
fate, hut it is not true that these law s have M an yi time 
been dispensed with, to deprive any man ;of any >em@kt« 
ment whats6ever,'Cohsistent with the good b£ the wiuole. 

But, if the sons of Noah are supposed to havefoeen 
initiated into social habits, by the education they tr€- 
ceived in the old world, how came their posterity im- 
mediately to forget -them*- and become savage? unless 
they were forcibly obliterated by the interposition of 
'< Almighty power ? That thus to obliterate them,' ;we 
have already she wn, would have been inconsistent with 
the ordinary providence of God, and are therefore- to 
presume, it was never done ; but unless they were for- 
cibly inverted to savagism, we cannot account • hov/ 
they came into that state, if they were; derived from 
the sons of Noah ; we are therefore to presume, that 
if they descended from these three men, m ore than an 
hundred years had etapsed between the flood and the 
building of Babel : or-thatthe three sons of Moatawere 
themselves savages. We cannot believe :that^mah, 
once civilized, ever reverted to savagism. All men 
according to the best information we can get, wTere 
originally in a savage state, and continued so ' till the 
* enterprize of Babel united one family of them in social 
habits. 

And we are upon the whole to conclude, that God 
created several pairs of the human species, placed 
them in proper sections of the earth, endowed their 
minds with Acuities whereby they should he able»to 
support themselves and their offspring on the sponta- 
neous productions of the earth and the water, until 
they should be able, by arts of their own invention, to 
, provide otherwise, and thus left them to shift for them- 
selves : the primary families must therefore have been 
rnde and dispersed. 



183 



Of ^ the Parent iStocks of thk several n &rie ties of Mam 

W-e have already shewn that all the varieties of man- 
kind were not maxle of one -lump. We cannot doubt 
but the original pairs partook of different ingredients, 
though their conformation appears nearly simrtar, and 
received from the hand of their maker the disciln.i- 
natin§«Gomplexions, features and physiognomy, which 
still distinguish their several progenies. 

The white people have fortunately preserved fchfe 
names of their first parents, Adam and Eve. The 
Chinese have preserved the name of their parent stock, 
Porm Kou. The Hindoos have been unfortunate m 
this respect : their earliest records have been lost. 
Brum ma was the first lawgiver of this people, as Mo- 
ses was of the Israelites, both in religion and poikics, 
they conceive he was inferior only to God ; and that he 
existed many thousand years before our account of lfe«F 
creation commences ; but do not consider him as their 
first progenitor. " Mr) Dow observes, that in the Shan* 
§crita language, which is the- grand repository of the 
reiigion, philosophy and' history of the Hindoos, there 
ar*e in particular many i hundred volumes, which treat 
of the ancient Indians and their history, which bear 
• tffls marks of authenticity and extend to high antiquity ; 
but still we learn nothing of their parent stock. 

But for a mere accident, the posterity of Adam 
might have lost the name and story of their parent 
stock, as the Hindoos have clone. After the book of 
the law had been for a long time mislaid, Heikiah hap- 
pened to find it in the temple. Uncommon joy and re* 
joicings were consequent upon it, and king* Hezekiah 
caused many copies of it immediately to : be made out, 
ami this prudent measure secured its perpetuity. 

As to the natives of America ; of the arctic regions ; 
of; Africa, and of New-Holland and its appendages*; 
to whom nature has denied the fire of enterprise ; a 
taste for social habits : and a curiosity, for invention 
and science ; and who have from the beginning con- 



LB 4 

tented themselves in a state of primeval ignorance? stf- 
pineness and barbarism, to the present day ; we do not 
know, nor have we any cause to believe, that there are 
many among them capable of counting their pedigree 
much higher than to their grandfather ; much less 
that they should be able to trace their ancestors to their 
parent stock. This remarkable imbecility however, 
affords another testimonial of the radical differences of 
of the human species. 

We cannot but consider it altogether likely, that 
there were several other parent stocks in the begii> 
ping. The .-Hottentots are so distinguishable from all 
the negro race in their neighborhood, that we can 
hardly believe them to be the same, for there is no* 
thing in their persons to identify them but only the 
woolly head ; their features are dissimilar and their 
complexions .yell© vv. The natives of the. peninsula of . 
Malacca, of the great island of Sumatra and some oth- 
er of the neighbouring islands, as we have seen are 
tinged with the same dye, ; yet they have lank hair. 
We are inclined to believe these are of another stock, 
but have no data sufficient to warrant a positive conclu- 
sion. The white Americans we mentioned before, 
probably sprung from a parent stock of their own, na- 
turally feeble, and incapable of extending themselves. 
They differ essentially from the Indians in every ex- 
ternal characteristic. 



THE RESULT. 

UPON a rational and philosophical retrospect of the 
preceding facts and deductions, can we hesitate for a 
moment, to embrace the opinion, That Spirit and 

Matter were co-eternal and co-eval ..That though 

matter is not in its own .nature wholly inert, yet it is 
destitute of intelligence. ......That spirit, that is, the 



185 



Deity, from eternity possessed an infinite plenitude of 

intelligence That his powers of intelligence have 

been fully manifested in the modifications of matter, 
and adequate portions of it communicated to particular 

parts of his creation That he created the world in 

which we live (as well as ali other worlds) at a period 

prior to the reach of human calculation That he 

stocked it with inhabitants of every species and variety 
adapted to its nature, and of course, similar to those it 

now contains That in the beginning he instituted 

certain laws in the physical system, which should op- 
erate in a continued series of causes and effects to the 
end of time. ......That he pi edetermined according to 

these laws the period of the earth's existence, demoli- 
tion and resuscitation, by a determinate number <of its 
revolutionary periods, or in some other way, with un- 
erring precision That at the destined moment, .an 

universal deluge took place and destroyed the whole 

That it is at least probable that the deluge was effected 
by a comet, because we know of no other agent in na- 
ture capable of producing those effects. ...... That the 

comet by its near approach- to the earth, elevated the 
tides of the ocean to a most stupendous height, by rai- 
sing a huge spheriod of water pointing towards the 

comet That this huge spheriod, must have been by 

the diurnal revolution of the earth on its own axis, car- 
vied round the globe (as are the ordinary tides) in some- 
what less than twenty four hours, and that several such 
tides probably occurred during the proximity of the 

cornet That by the weight and impetuosity of this 

deluge, the surface of the earth, was, in some meas- 
ure metamorphosed, all the labours of man erased, 
the trees dislodged, and all terrestrial animated nature 

disorganized. That, as we suppose the earth to be a 

mass of original matter, we are to conceive it not un- 
likely, that several similar catastrophes may have in- 
tervened since its first creation, and that the like ef- 
fects, at certain periods to us unknown, maybe cxpe- 



vienced to all eternity.., ....That in due time after, the 

new arranged strata had acquired a proper degree of 
firmness, .and cohesion, and the soil of ; fertility, so as 
to produce grass, corn, herbage and trees , competent 
to the. support of animal lifej,! he created, or in other 
words caused to rise into existence according .to the 
laws, of nature which himself had established in the 
beginning, all- the variety f of s animals that now exist,, 
and finally man* as H^jjsjtj^l^ most perfect of all his 
works, to be the: sovereign of the whole,; anpl to re- 
people the continents and islands, that the earth and 3 
the air might become subservient to animal life, and , 
no part of creation lie waste , but that all nature should 
receive, enjoy and communicate, every felicity con-, 
sistent with, the best good of the \v hole....... That his ; 

creation, took place? according to the. best data to be met % 
with, about six thousand years , ago, and has never 
been, disturbed by the intervention of any, flood, from 

that time to this... That man being the. most, finished- 

of all his worksi ami superior to all, other, tei-restriaj 
beings, was made lord paramount, and for, the use. of 
his talents.; and prerogatives, liable to a responsibility: 
.......That in most, and perhaps in : all of the several . 

secies of vegetables, animals, . and man, God created 
several -original varieties 4 . which have, from that time; 
to this* .preserved their peculiar siiigularities by re-- 

production Thai of the human speck s Ire mad>e not 

less than six or. seven. original pairs, ruid placed them 
in different sections, of the . earth,- to which, their ^na- 
tures and tastes were peculiarly adapted. That the 
peculiarities of vth.ese,. and... their features .have.^beeii f 
IV e'ne rally preserved- in their respective ; descendants,; 

so as to exhibit-evident, marks of primary , distinction * • 

That a. radical dijjerence, is as well visible in ,their : in- 
teilects ancl mo^es of thinking, as in their- persons,^ a- ... 
tures and complexions..... ..That mankind,. Hke the reat : 

of Gods creation,, were endowed with natural talents . 
equal to their emergencies : .and destined, like other 



m 

terrestrial beings tc shift for themselves : and, having 
no othe# assistance, were left to gather knowledge 
from experiments, and. to profit according to the im- 
provement they made of those talents : and, that hav- 
ing made different progress . in science, civilization, 
arts and manufactures,, according to their several in- 
clinations, and abilities* they have respectively estab-. 
lished themselves in their, present situations of life. 



188 



CREATION. 

PARAPHRASE ON THE FIRST CHAPTER 
OF GENESIS. 

PERMIT lis to premise, as well you may, 
Nature's prime elements in chaos lay ; 
Huge and confus'd the mass ; all rough and rude < 
While neither light no? darkness dar'd obtrude : 
All twilight glimmer — all chaotic night 
*Till God arose in majesty and light ; 
Set plastic nature all in grand array ; 
And destin'd every atom to obey. 

Old chaos struck with unresisting dread, 
Disord er'd, from the bright effulgence fled. 
And, mov'd by natures fundamental laws, 
Each fiery atom to one centre draws, 
To form the sun : (stupendous globe of fire.) 
While th* othei* parts of matter all retire 
In sections vast (each destin'di for a world) 
By force centrifugal, through aether huri'd 
Off in a tangent, to its orbit flew i 
€ The force exptnded : other Jaws accrue. 
Attraction and repulsion come in force ; 
Whence each assumes its planetary course. 

II. 

Who then shall limit the creative pow'rs ; 
And think that God has made no world but ours I 
Shall stupid ignorance, contract his plan 
And gue ss his favours all be stow 'd on man 2 
And who his providence to earth may bound, 
While thousand habitable worlds shine 'round ? 

Who can but trace his glorious designs 
Of woi Ids and systems, 'rang'd in endless lines ? 
While, station'd through th' immensity of space. 
Innumerable suns, we learn to trace. 
With planetary worlds revolving round, 
Wherein does life of all degrees abound. 



Where moons around their central planets play 
To imitate, with borrow'd beams, the day. 
Unnumber'd lamps, in heav'n, refulgent glow, 
To bless the peopled stars, and shine below* 
Those fixed stars that twinkle in the sky 
Are suns, tho' scarce apparent to the eye. 
Centers of systems glimmering from afar, 
To whom our sun is likewise but a star. 

III. 

God the rude mass to useful order whirl'd 
And fix'd in empty space our rolling world. 
Assign'd its orbit ; taught it how to run ; 
Roll on its axis, and pass round the sun. 
Gave it a Moon, whose mild and borrow'd ray 
Should chase the gloomy shades of night away 

His spirit which pervades all nature through/ 
Moved on the lands and on the waters too. 
And lo, the waters from the land divide, 
The solid masses rise, the fluids subside. 
Their happy benedictions to dispense 
The brilliant morn and dewy eve commence. 
The varying seasons take their grand career, 
And time is measur'd by the dav and vesir. 

" IV. 

The Sun, created at an early hour 
Became the agent of productive pow'r. 
The source of winds and rains, of light and heat ;•' 
Of ail we mortals see, that's good or great : 
Of flaming meteors, and of earthquakes dire : 
Of awful tempests and the lightnings fire. 
The northern morn, that darts, recoils and flits, 
Likewise results from light the sun emits. 

His genial beams transmitted from the skies* 
Cause life and motion thro* the earth to rise. 
The elements commence a gen'rous strife 
And native germs assemble into life, 

' Fwas in the waters, e'en while chaos rcign'd^ 
Sea-am arais were form'd, and life sustain'd. 



190 



From virgin sperm enliven ? d by the sun 

Long ere creation on the land begun. 

Witness their .perfect shells, and teeth' and bones,' 

Incorporated oft with rocks and - stones, 

With wisdom infinite, did God ordain; 
Cause and effect, in one perpetual chains' 
By nice connexions so linknatures laws 
That each effect becomes another cause. 
Which laws an endless empire will maintain 
(While time endures) m an unbroken chain; 
In ev'ry branch of nature they preside : 
And ev'ry movement in the system guide. 
We see them in the seed, the stem, the root, 
The leaf, the bud, the blossom and the fruit. 

*Tis hand in hand, that time and nature go ; . 
Sure in effect, but yet in motion-slow.- 
Nor till a lapse erf time prepared tae scene,- 
Could earth, at any rate, dress up in green : 
Nor vegetation, till 'twas drained and warm, 
Its functions, in her bosom, e ; er performs 

The grazing herds had all been made in vainj 
If made before the verdure clotlrd the plain. 
And man, by no means, could his food procure. 
Till grown the plants, and fruits became mature. 

VI. . 

When Providence had due arrangements made? 
For infant animals of every grade, 
Rous'd by a warm, serene and fostering sky, 
Congenial germs, all quick together fly, 
And animals, of every sort and size, 
By pairs, from -nature's rich reposits rise. 
The air with animated nature swarms, 
And life appears in twice ten thousand forms. 

The grazing herds, find "herbage ready grown* 
And deem the flow'ry meadows all their ow n. 
Nor suffer'd the carnivorous by delay, 
But fed on greens, or quick devour'd their prey. 



191 



Nor were the birds of heav'n with hunger press* J* 
But nimbly pick'd-their food and built their nests. 
While man found fruits all ripeiVd to his hand : 
And felt himself, high sovereign of the land* 
Thus Heav'-ns munificence rich joys bestowed? 
And lo, the cup of blessings overflowed. 

VII. 

Creation, though all God- like and sublime ; 
f Was wrought by plastic virtue and by time. 
Earth fr&ught with ^every germ and seed, 
Whence piant3 should grow or animals proceed, 
Which, influenced by Phoebus' genial rays. 
All germinated in their various ways : 
Some springing quick, while others grew more slow ; 
Till time and nature, by a gentle flow, 
The embryos matured, and gave them birth, 
To people and replenish all the earth. 

'Twas by results that ail successive rose : 
And this plain fact, the state of nature shows. . 
Yet that 'twas done within six days, we read ; 
To which* for this sole reason, we accede, 
That elsewhere, in that volume, it appears 
One day^vith GOD is as a thousand years* 
VIII. 

No solitary species great or small, 

Was destin'd to exist among them all. 

For from the first, the Maker had design'd 

To form varieties in every-kind. 

Among the cats, and; dogs, cOws, sheep and deer, 

And all besides— varieties appear. 

And when tW Almighty to complete his plan, 

Formed as the rest, his noblest creature man ; S 

In him, he brought varieties to birth, 

* The writer would not suggest by tins, that every -, of 
the six days of Creation was a thviiHand < years, but 
thinks thut every day must have been one year, at ' the 
least. 



J92 



Assigning each its proper spot on earth* 
To hold in fee, through all the lapse of time, 
And gave a nature suited to the clime. 
Yet so that their adventurous offspring haste 
To occupy each habitable waste. 

As men increas'd, through ail the world they spread, 
As business, taste, or inclination Jed. 
Stragglers from different stocks commix'd their blood? 
By ways and means all parties understood. » 
Yet to whatever walks some might aspire, 
At home, each race has been presery'd entire. 

IX. 

In western Asia, did the Maker place 
Adam and Eve to propagate their race. 
And Poan Kou in eastern Asia station, 
Destined great sire of ev'ry Tartar nation. 
In southern Asia, gave the Gentoo lot, 
The names of whose first parents are forgot. 
In central Afric formal the Negro pair, 
Mark'd with thick lips, black skins, and wool for ham 
In northern Afric, similar in hue 
But not in features — Moors came up to view. 
In New-Holland, or other island near, 
Nature produc'd a different woolly pair. 
Nor did America sustain neglect, 
But felt the mighty Makers kind respect : 
Such her inherent germ and soil and air, 
That nature form'd in her the Indian pair. 
A smaller stem in the cold north arose, 
Which we Greenlanders call, and Esquimaux. 
These parent stocks, with proper powers endu'd,- 
Each one through life his chosen way pursu'd. 
Their different races, diff'rent courses chose, 
As genius prompted, and as wants arose. 
According to the talents each possessed, 
Neglected, or improved, has each progress'd* 
Some to high eminence, we've seen attain ; 
While others in their savage state remain. 



193 

% 

Who think that all things were of nothing made, 
Xre into error, by chicane, betrayed. 
For common sense and reason well agree, 
Had nothing ever been — -it still would be. 
How something out of nothing «'er could grow, 
The subtlest Alchymist could never show. 
'Twas false philosophy the whim conceiv'd, 
Which still unthinking thousands have believ'd. 
This wild deception theorists have wrought, 
For 'tis a doctrine Scripture never taught. 

In nature's self, its elements accrue, 
Like Deity, they no beginning knew. 
Alike originals, they knew no cause 
But mere necessity, and that, no laws. 

Soon as the great Creator's will was known. 
All matter mov'd, obsequious round his throne. 
Order still spread, in larger circles round, 
And only stopp'd, at natures utmost bound. 
The dormant foetuses in earth's vast womb, 
Were quick matur'd, and rose in youthful blooni. 

XI. 

Let us recognize now, the joyous day, 
When things were new ; and creatures young and gay. 
When man and beast [prime stock] all undismay'd, 
In social glee, their infant gambols play'd. 

When mov'd by Phoebus' vivicating beams, 
The earth tfith animated nature teems. 
The elephant and mouse confess their birth, 
As do all other quadrupeds on earth. 
The reptiles from a humbler matrix creep 
And feather'd tribes, from theirs, elated peep. 
Insects multiform, and of various dyes, 
Frem matrices diminutive arise. 

Then man, from mother earth, comes forth erect : 
With wreaths of native majesty bedeck'd. 
In all the creatures the Creator made, 
Infinite pow'r and science were display 'd. 

Q 



£88 v 



His attributes transcendentfiand divine, 

Through all his works, with wonti'rous lustre shine. 

What he had done, he lightly understood 

And wh^n complete, pronoanc*d that' all was ;*oo&», 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER L — Of the the originality of matter. 

The idea that all things were created out of nothing 
is but a speculative opinion, not warranted by revela- 
tion, but inconsistent with reason. All things, as well 
as Adam and Eve, were created of pre-existent mat- 
ter. Matter had an original existence, but no intelli- 
gence. The work of Creation is the work of God, ia 
giving to matter, fprm, motion and life, [page 3. 

Chap. II. — The work of Creation was progressive. 

Substantiated by the incorporation of animal sub- 
stances with solid stones — a variety of mstances reci- 
ted, [page 9. 
Chap. III.— A D esc aiit on animal Creation, [page 13. 
Chap. IV. — Constitution of Nature, cr Divine Provi-. 
dence. 

The providence of the Creator is an immutable se- 
ries of causes and effects, from eternity to eternity. 
All the phenomena of nature result from physical 
causes ; are not ominous of awful events, nor the to- 
kens of Heaven's approbation or displeasure. All 
changes in the physical system are in consequence of 
these laws : the destruction and resuscitation of the 
world not excepted. [page 20. 

Chap. V. 4 further view of the Constitution of Na- 
ture, [page 25. 
Chap. VI. — The World has formerly been destroyed by 
an exundation of the sea. 

Substantiated by the deposition of marine exuviae in 
every land, by fossil shells and other extraneous fos- 
sils, in the bottoms of quarries and mines ; in h\rm and 
solid rocks ; on the highest; mountains ; in plains and 
vailies ; in France, England, the Alps and some 
parts of Asia, and also in Africa. [f la $. e 28. 

Chap. VII.— American Fossils. 

In Georgia, in Surinam, on the Andes, in New- 
Hampshire, New-Jersey, York River? James Rivet, 



40,000 acres covered with shells between the Allegha- 
ny mountains ; Sharks jaws" and teeth &c. in James 
River. [page 34f 

Chap. V III. ^THe face of the cmntty ofSouth+CaroH* 
7ia and various other phendniena in Natural History* 
afford strong indications of a universal deluge. 
General complexion of South-Carolina : Fossil tree 
Sec. in Kentucky : Madrepores mthe Isle of France ? 
Foreign shells in the district of Lyons : Jaws and teetlr 
of sharks in Etampes, maris, . marbles, calcareous? 
stones : Petrified shells in Egypt. [jtage 4%' 

Chap. IX.— Conjectures on the physical cause of the de- 
luge. 

Probably effected by a comet : grounds of the con- 
jecture : effusion of the polar ices * All resulted from 
natural causes . {page 4Si 

Chap. X. — The Earth before the Deluge was habitable^ 
and' likely inhabited. 
The origin of pit-coal : Fossil trees Sec in Ireland : 
Bones of the Mammoth : Fossil bones in New- Jersey : 
Elephants teeth in Flintshire : Shells incorporated with 
stones near the Susquehanna : Vegetable petrifactions 
enclosed in stones : Impressions of vegetables in a 
61 ue rock : Remarks. [page SB, 

Chap. XI. — The World firior to the deluge was inUdbit* 
ed by men and other aUrmah. 
Ancient fortifications in the U. States : Fossil Wall 
hi N. Carolina: Fossil Bricks at Hudsoir: (Sigantic 
human skeletons in Sicily. {page 65* 

Chap. XII. — Inquiry— Wow long is it since the present 
race of Mankind commenced existence ? 
The eternity of their existence refuted : Civilization 
commenced in Chaldea, in China, and in India, 
4054 years ago : Egypt and Ethiopia abou; the same 
time : The result doubtful, but most likely 'six thou- 
sand years. [M^ e 77. 
Chap. XIII.' — The Quadruped* of the tm \ great Conti- 
nents particularised and compared^ and their disPin* 



gashing chameteri&tics rewirked. -[page 9.2. 
Qhap. XIV,— Additional evidences that the now existing 
races of animals mere created after the deluge. 
All animals must have perished in the deluge ; but 
-even though a remnant had been saved in the Ark*" 
it is impossible that they should have migrated to 
-America and the detached Islands: The opinions of 
several eminent writers examined and refuted ; Ani- 
mals were created on both continents, and on the Isl- 
ands, [page 101. 
'JCttAP. XV Birds, Reptiles and Insects were created 
after the deluge. 
Shewn from the improbability of the first, and im- 
possibility of the last, having migrated from the old 
- continent to the new, and to the detached islands. 

[page 110. 

'Chap. XVI* — part I —All the several varieties of man 
were derived from as many parent stocks. 

■"PART, II.— Though different kinds of animals may firopa- 
gate together, and their progeny still propagate, 

■ they, are not thence to be considered as being derived 

■ from one and the same parent stock. 

The different physiognomies of man considered : 
The apparent difference of animals is evidence of a 
different origin : Mr. Buffon's notion concerning pa- 
rent stocks refuted, [page 1 16. 
Chap. XVII. — The varieties of mankind are not devia- 
tions from one original stock, but reproductions 
from several. 

No man has been able to account for the discrimi- 
nations unless it be original : The primary families 
remotely situated, held no communications : Adams 
race distinguished by superior enterprise : General 
complexions contrasted. [page 123. 

Chap. XVIII — variety e. — the Esquimaux : Com- 
pendious description of their country, persons , habits 
and religion. [page 131. 



¥?hap. XIX.-— variety II.— tartar race : Compen* 

dious,&c. [page 134. 

Chap. variety hi.— the gUntoo race. 

{page 138. 

Chap, XXI. -^variety iv. — the moors : Compendi- 
ous, [pag? 140. 

Chap. XXII. — variety v. — NE&koEs of Africa z 
Compendious, ifc. [page 144. 

Chap. XXIII. — variety vl — General description of 
the American Indians. [page 148. 

Chap XY/F.— variety vii.— General description of 
the inhabitants of New -Holland, and the adjacent 
Isitinds. [page 161. 

Chap XXV* — General description of the Inhabitants of 
the Philippine Islands, and those of the eastern 
Archipelago. [page 168. 

Chap. XXVIi—Ofthe Race ofABAM.— variety viii. 
•of the human species- — Comparative description of 



ADAM"* s RACE. 
Chap. XXVII— Of the SAVAGE state. 
RESULT. 
CREATION. 



page 1 74. 
page 180. 
page 184. 
Piage 188i 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



